BGSU Athletics: Memphis player has been charged with assault

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A Memphis player has been charged with assault after punching a Bowling Green State University basketball player after Thursday’s game.

In a statement on Friday, BGSU Athletics said that university police filed the assault charge.

“Additionally, BGSU Athletics is conducting its own review. Violence is never acceptable and our priority remains the health, safety and support of our student-athlete, who is recovering and doing well. This is an active investigation in conjunction with the City of Bowling Green Prosecutor, and no further comment is available at this time,” the statement said.

A check of the municipal court docket did not find the woman’s name.

The punch happened as the teams walked toward center court following Bowling Green’s 73-60 win in the Round of 16 game.

Memphis’ Jamirah Shutes stopped to talk with Falcons’ player Elissa Brett. After a short conversation, Shutes appears to throw a punch at Brett’s face. Brett fell toward the scorer’s table and onto the sideline.

Bowling Green coach Robyn Fralick didn’t directly comment on the incident after the game, saying only that they were “figuring all those things out,” as far as what happened in the handshake line.

Memphis’ athletics department said Friday that the incident was “extremely unfortunate and certainly not consistent with, or representative of, our expectations for our programs and student-athletes.”

“Because the incident occurred after the game, jurisdiction falls in the hands of local authorities, and we are cooperating fully with their process,” the statement said. “To be respectful of that process, we will not comment further until it is complete.”

The Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper reported that Shutes, who leads the Tigers in scoring, took an elbow to her face with 24 seconds left in the opening quarter and played just eight minutes in the first half. She returned to start the second half.

Shutes, a fifth-year player who finished with 13 points in her final game with the Tigers, was a second-team All-AAC selection this season.

Brett scored 15 points in the win.

After the punch, Brett stayed on the ground for several minutes as her teammates huddled around, but when she got up she was already beginning to show signs of swelling around her eye.

(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)

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