Vanderbilt coach Shea Ralph ejected after dressing down referees in…
Shea Ralph let the referees know precisely how she felt about their performance.
The Vanderbilt women’s basketball coach obtained what she said was her first profession ejection in 5 seasons with the prorgram after going off on the officers during her team’s stunning 89-78 loss to No. 24 Ole Miss in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals Friday night time.
With her fifth-ranked team trailing by 22 early in the fourth quarter, Ralph misplaced her cool.
“How is that a f–king foul,” she first requested a male referee.
Ralph then pivoted to another zebra.
“You can’t call that,” she appeared to say. “You suck. You suck ass.”
That referee apparently didn’t like being told they “suck ass” and booted Ralph from the game, with Ralph giving her team high-fives before exiting.
“I wasn’t trying to get kicked out,” Ralph said. “At that time, what I said was warranted, and the action that I took was warranted, and I’ll stand behind that. You want to kick me out for it, then they can kick me out. What I do love is the fight that my team showed. There’s only so many ways you can say something over and over again. So I said it differently, and I got kicked out, which is fine.”
Ralph selected her phrases fastidiously to keep away from getting high quality, however she called for consistency from all concerned.
The final tally had Ole Miss committing 23 fouls to Vanderbilt’s 21, however she felt the Rebels acquired away with some bodily protection against SEC Player of the Year Mikayla Blakes.
Blakes shot 0 for 10 in the first half, including 0 for five from 3, and scored one point.
She rallied for 23 factors in the second half.
“I also thought she was fouled,” Ralph said. “She was being held, and there’s only so many ways you can respond to that. What I know about her is that she is going to fight to win the game. Never count her or us out. And that kid fought until the very end because that is who she is.”
Shea Ralph yells at the referee. @TylerDeLuca/X
Blake’s second-half surge helped Vanderbilt make a run after a horrendous first quarter that put it in a 25-6 gap before, 49-17, at the half.
But even 61 factors in the second half was not sufficient to beat such a large deficit.
“I just told (forward) Sacha (Washington) on the way over here, ‘Maybe I should have gotten kicked out sooner,’ in terms of the way that they played, the fight that they showed, the togetherness” Ralph joked.
The Commodores had been projected as a No. 2 seed in ESPN’s latest bracket Friday night time, although this loss might have an effect on their seeding.
Ralph exits the court docket. AP
“This changes nothing about our season,” Ralph said. “This changes nothing about what we’ve done,” Ralph said, “I think it only adds fuel to the fire for what’s ahead.”
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