Texas Mother Arrested After Partaking in Middle School Basketball Brawl

February 24, 2022 / BasketballCoaching
A Texas mother is facing several charges, according to a Fox4News report, after police say she attacked multiple people, including teenagers and a referee, during a middle school basketball game.

In the Fox4News report, police say the mother lost control during her daughter’s basketball, punching a referee and hitting and kicking seventh-grade girls on the team her daughter just played.

motherBelow is an excerpt from the Fox4News report from Murphy, Texas.

In his 26 years of reffing, Greg Ivanovsky says this is the worst behavior he’s ever seen by a parent.

“My lip is like all swollen up, and I just had dental work,” he said.

Ivanovsky is still dealing with pain on the right side of his mouth after he says he was punched by an angry mom after a Plano ISD basketball game over the weekend.

Ivanovsky, who has been a referee for more than two decades, was working a seventh-grade game Saturday morning at Plano Sports Authority in Murphy, Texas. He says during the game, one of the girls had to be thrown out after a jump ball.

“At the end of the jump ball, one of the girls let go. The other one shoved her with the ball and then dropped the ball and punched the girl in the face,” he recalled. “I had to eject her from the game. There is a zero-tolerance policy.”

But once the game ended, Ivanovsky says the girl who was ejected came back onto the court to start a fight with a player from the other team.

“Then the daughter came around and started using language I can’t use on TV,” he said.

Police say the mother of the girl who was ejected then stepped onto the court. But instead of trying to control her daughter, she got violent and punched the 13-year-old girl her daughter was yelling at in the face.

“And I’m like, ‘This isn’t going to happen. I’m not going to allow this,’” he recalled. “And then out of nowhere, I get a left hook across the mouth right here. My glasses go sideways like this.”

Ivanovsky says Graham knocked him backward.

According to graham’s arrest warrant affidavit, she went on to yell at other parents when a dad stepped in to protect his family.  Police say she scratched the man across his face, leaving visible red marks.

More parents and kids rushed to help when police say Graham assaulted two other teen players, kicking a 13-year-old in the back and punching a 14-year-old in the face.

“How do you do that to a child? I’m emotional because I am baffled by that,” Ivanovsky said.

To read the full report from Fox4News about the melee at a middle school basketball game, click here