Ultimately, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was vindicated in her opinion on a call that was made in her team's victory over San Antonio at Target Center last Friday.
Remember? It was in the second quarter when Stars player Kayla Alexander threw an elbow into Damiris Dantas' forehead, knocking the rookie forward to the floor. A foul was called, but not a flagrant foul. And trainer Chuck Barta was called for a technical by official Tony Dawkins when he went onto the floor to tend to Dantas.
After the game Reeve said the call should be been a flagrant foul on Alexander and that no technical should have been called on her team.
She was right.
Turns out Dawkins apologized after halftime for making a mistake. And the league has subsequently informed the Lynx that no technical should have been called, that the game officials have been fined and that that Alexander has been assessed a flagrant foul for that elbow.
What the WNBA wants its officials to do is call a flagrant foul if there is any question that it might be. That allows the officials to watch the replay on the monitor, then either uphold the call or downgrade it to a common foul.
As for the trainer? "A trainer is permitted to [be on the floor] during a stoppage of play," Reeve said. "If the trainer gets the player off the floor quickly, like we did, no timeout should be charged. And if she stays down, then we have to take a timeout. No part of that is a technical foul."
The good news is that Dantas was OK and the missed call didn't affect the game's outcome.
