Sports
Woodbury High School girls basketball banned from NJSIAA playoffs – Courier Post
The Woodbury High School girls’ basketball team, one of the state’s top contenders for a Group 1 championship, has been banned from this year’s the NJSIAA Tournament after seven players were disqualified for leaving the bench during a fan altercation last week, athletic director Dan Howey said.
The incident occurred at Delran during a South Jersey Invitational Basketball Tournament contest on Jan. 18. The Thundering Herd were up more than 20 points with less than five minutes to play when fans started arguing, Howey said. Spectators were being escorted out of the gym, but seven Woodbury players left the sideline.
The game was called at that point, a 68-47 Thundering Herd win.
“No fight or anything like that,” Howey said, “but the NJSIAA has us for seven athletes leaving the bench.”
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The NJSIAA informed Woodbury of their disqualification the next day.
The NJSIAA rule book states, “Any varsity team accumulating three (3) or more player or coach disqualifications prior to the start of the tournament will not be permitted to participate in the state tournament. Seeded teams will forfeit their right to compete if a disqualification limit is reached prior to the start of the tournament for the team.”
“Unfortunate incident,” Howey said. “A couple spectators upset with the refs, upset with the kids, it went too far.”
Woodbury was 11-1 following the Delran victory but, with seven players given a two-game ban due to the incident, it had to forfeit contests to Cherry Hill East and Holmdel.
The Thundering Herd were expected to vie for a state championship with St. Bonaventure commit Alexis Davis leading the way.
“The kids work hard,” Howey said. “We’re going to try and advocate for our kids. We’re going to support our kids. It’s a great team. It’s really unfortunate a spectator thing bleeds into your season. We’re in the process of looking into any and all options.”
Josh Friedman has produced award-winning South Jersey sports coverage for the Courier Post, The Daily Journal and the Burlington County Times for more than a decade. If you have or know of an interesting story to tell, reach out on Twitter at @JFriedman57 or via email at jfriedman2@gannettnj.com. You can also contact him at 856-486-2431. Help support local journalism with a subscription.