MORRIS, Okla. (KFOR) – Video shows a fight breaking out at an Oklahoma high school girls’ basketball game Friday night that involved players, cheerleaders, fans and parents.
Star Spencer High School and Tulsa Central High school girls’ basketball team played each other in the playoffs at Morris High School Friday night.
It’s unclear what started the fight, but a parent who witnessed the fight told KFOR it lasted about five minutes until police arrived to break it up.
Video shows several players, cheerleaders, fans and even parents fighting on the court after the basketball game ended.
One player is seen thrown to the ground by either a parent or fan.
Also, a woman is seen running across the court to hit another parent or fan.
Skylar Brooks was waiting for her son’s Morris High School basketball game to start after the girls played.
She took the video and said the fight started between two players as they were shaking hands after the game.
“It really wasn’t like a dirty game. I mean, everybody seemed normal. So, it definitely caught me off guard… There were a few players involved, but most of the players were standing back. So, yeah, it was definitely, I would say more of the fans and parents,” said Brooks.
Brooks said the boys’ basketball game was still held after the fight, but security and police officers remained at the game for the rest of the night.
“It happened pretty quickly. It was mostly I mean, as you can see from the video, I’m assuming parents and fans, couple of players involved. There was no security or there were there weren’t even cops. Morris didn’t have any of that there. They did afterward,” said Brooks.
The fight didn’t stop Tulsa Central from playing again because they were back on the court at Morris High School the following day and beat Millwood 44 to 42.
“Tulsa Public Schools had their police there for the game the following day,” said Brooks.
The Central Lady Braves are the Regional Consolation Champs and are now headed to the Area Consolation Championship.
“Tulsa Public had police officers there because Central played again. Tulsa Central did look like they were missing a few players. I’m assuming they were suspended,” said Brooks.
When KFOR asked the Tulsa School District if students involved played in Saturday’s game, Emma Garrett-Nelson, executive director of communications & strategy at Tulsa Public Schools told us quote, “While we cannot share information about specific students, we have taken appropriate action with the students involved based on our Behavior Response Plan. Several of the adults involved have been banned from attending any Tulsa Public Schools athletic events for the remainder of the school year.”
Garrett-Nelson also said, “We have a zero tolerance policy for this kind of behavior in any context, and we have had safety requirements in place for our athletics events for many years. Those safety requirements include having security staffing on-site during any athletic events played at one of our Tulsa Public Schools facilities… We have high expectations for our student athletes both on and off the court, and we are disappointed by the behavior of all parties involved in this incident that took place during the Central v. Star Spencer game hosted at Morris… We want to thank the coaches and administrators from Central and Star Spencer who responded immediately and worked quickly to deescalate the situation.”
Crystal Raymond, media relations manager for Oklahoma City Public Schools told KFOR, “On Friday, February 24, a physical altercation occurred between members of the Star Spencer Girls Basketball team and Tulsa Central team. Spectators of the game were involved as well. This was an unfortunate incident and does not reflect the values or sportsmanship that OKCPS expects of our students and fans. OKCPS officials worked with Tulsa Public Schools and the OSSAA to investigate the incident. Students involved have been disciplined according to our Student Code of Conduct. As always, the safety of our students, staff and fans is our priority and this type of behavior will not be tolerated.”
The Morris Police Department told KFOR, no one was arrested or injured. They were just there to secure the scene after everything happened.
We reached out to the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association. They told us each of the schools involved are doing their own investigation, so they are waiting for reports from the schools and then they will conduct their investigation.