Angel Reese has been suspended for one game after she received her eighth technical foul of the season.
According to ESPN, the Chicago Sky forward will not play on Friday (September 5) against the Indiana Fever.
Near the end of the first half in the Sky’s 88-64 win over Connecticut on Wednesday (September 3), Reese was issued a technical foul when she hit Aaliyah Edwards in the head as they battled for position under the basket. According to league rules, “players and coaches are suspended one game after receiving an eighth technical foul in the regular season — and one game for every two technicals after that.”
Following the game, coach Tyler Marsh noted that the Sky would contest the technical foul and request a review from the league.
Despite the technical foul, Reese played another strong game, finishing with 18 points and 13 rebounds for her 23rd double-double in the win.
Crew chief Randy Richardson shared his rationale for giving Reese the technical foul in the pool report after the game.
“Yeah, so we had a flail on the court; so we had a non-call on the court and then we went to take a look at it and we deemed that to be a non-basketball act by Reese and we ended up calling the flail an unsportsmanlike technical foul,” Richardson said.
In addition to the suspension, Reese apologized to the Sky for criticizing the franchise and her teammates, saying some of her words were “taken out of context.”
“I think the language is taken out of context. I really didn’t intentionally mean to put down my teammates, because they’ve been through this with me throughout the whole year,” Reese said. “I want to apologize to my teammates, which I already have about the article and how it was misconstrued about what was said. And I just have to be better with my language.”