Angel Reese in disbelief after being slapped with WNBA suspension and substantial fine just moments after she made more history
Angel Reese has received an automatic one-game suspension from the WNBA after picking up her eighth technical foul of the season.
Reese was left in disbelief as she was penalized by officials after a tangle with Carla Leite under the basket.
Officials deemed that Reese had shoved her opponent in the tangle, that occurred with her Atlanta Dream team trailing 76-61 to the Portland Fire with 8:46 minutes remaining in the game.
Reese spread her arms wide in protest as she remonstrated to officials: ‘She pushed off on me!’.
But referees controversially still decided to give her a technical foul, her eighth of the season.
It means she will be suspended for Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Lynx and receive a $1,500 fine.
Angel Reese was in disbelief after picking up her eighth technical foul of the WNBA season
She faces a one-game suspension and $1,500 fine if an Atlanta Dream appeal is not succesful
Reese arrived at the game after setting a new WNBA rebound record and made more history
Head coach Karl Smesko also voiced his frustration with the officials and later confirmed their plans to try and appeal to get the call rescinded.
‘Yeah, I’m sure that we’ll appeal it,’ he said. ‘From my vantage point, it didn’t look like something that was tech-worthy, so hopefully it’ll be rescinded.
‘But, I haven’t had the benefit of watching it on film yet or anything like that. But I think that’s probably something that we’re going to try to get rescinded.’
Just moments before being penalized, Reese made WNBA history as she tied Alyssa Thomas’ league record for most double-doubles in a season.
The former LSU standout, who was traded to Atlanta from Chicago Sky on April 6 in a shock move, has tied Thomas’ 2023 mark with her 28th double-double of the season.
She also now owns the Atlanta Dream single-season record for defensive rebounds, with 271 for the season among a total of 458 rebounds, 12.4 per game, the most in a single-season in WNBA history.
But she now faces missing the next game unless an appeal is successful to get the foul rescinded.
Sunday’s game is the final Dream game before the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup break.
They will return to the court with just four games left of the WNBA regular season and looking to secure the best seed possible for the post-season.
The Dream secured their fourth straight playoff spot last week and sits second in the Eastern Conference standings and fifth in the overall league standings.
