Bowling Green’s Elissa Brett punched in handshake line of WNIT game

Bowling Green’s Elissa Brett punched in handshake line of WNIT game

A Bowling Green player was struck in the face by a Memphis player in the handshake line Thursday night during a Women’s NIT game.

Following Bowling Green’s 73-60 win in the Super 16, Memphis’ Jamirah Shutes and the Falcons’ player Elissa Brett stopped in the line. After a short interaction, Shutes appears to throw a punch at Brett’s face, forcing Brett to fall toward the scorer’s table.

Bowling Green said in a statement that the incident is in the hands of the campus police.

“The incident that took place following tonight’s home WNIT game has been turned over to the BGSU Police Department,” the school said. “Bowling Green State University Athletics does not make comments about active police investigations. Our priority is with the health, safety and support of our student-athletes.”

Bowling Green coach Robyn Fralich 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.

The “Memphis Commercial Appeal” 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.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.