New York Liberty guard Betnijah Laney-Hamilton was tossed from a tight 93-91 loss to the Toronto Tempo after pegging opponent Marina Mabrey in the back with a stray shoe.A flying sneaker from Betnijah Laney-Hamilton hits Marina Mabrey in weird moment during Liberty-Tempo game.(Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)The flying sneaker couldn't have come at a worse time, derailing New York's furious comeback after the Liberty entered the fourth quarter down 16.HOST CLAIMS WNBA COMMISSIONER CATHY ENGELBERT CANCELED INTERVIEW AS CAITLIN CLARK CONTROVERSY MOUNTSThe chaos started late in the fourth when Jonquel Jones lost her sneaker.
Laney-Hamilton tried to throw it back to her teammate, but it instead smacked an unsuspecting Mabrey in the back.WATCH:Laney-Hamilton had already been mixing it up with Mabrey earlier in the game, including one exchange that earned her a Flagrant 1 foul.When the shoe struck Mabrey, officials hit Laney-Hamilton with a technical foul and ejected her.An errant sneaker sparked a bizarre ejection of Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, flipping the script on the Liberty's late rally against Toronto.(Eakin Howard/Getty Images)Laney-Hamilton defended herself after the final buzzer, insisting it was nothing more than a terrible throw."I would never intentionally try to hit someone with a shoe, especially while they're not looking," Laney-Hamilton said."Teammate was without a shoe, so I did my best to try and get it to her.
Unfortunately, it did hit someone.I know just by the way that things were going throughout the game that it can look a certain way, but that's just not something that I would personally do, especially in a moment like that where the game is on the line."A flying sneaker sparked Betnijah Laney-Hamilton's bizarre ejection, crushing the Liberty's furious comeback against Toronto.
(Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)CAITLIN CLARK VS.PAIGE BUECKERS HOW TWO WHITE WNBA STARS ENDED UP WITH VERY DIFFERENT CULTURAL PERCEPTIONSMabrey took the high road after ...