The District 7-5A girls’ basketball game between Hahnville High and Thibodaux High Schools ended late in the fourth quarter due to a bench clearing brawl that took place in Thibodaux on Friday.

With Hahnville leading 36-31 with 2:26 left in the game, players from both teams started to physically fight each other on the court. There were also players from both teams who left the bench during the fight.

The fight lasted nearly a minute and was broken up by coaches and security on hand. Many fans also ran onto the court to separate the players.  

Game officials decided to end the game with 2:26 left on the clock, pending further review by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association. 

Thibodaux coach Ashley Adams and Hahnville coach Arianna Smith-Martin said the schools will investigate the fight and will submit game video and other information to the LHSAA.

According to sportsmanship rules, the LHSAA may issue penalties that could include forfeits, suspensions, fines and other sanctions against both teams and all players that were involved.

Both Adams and Smith said they didn’t know what led to the sudden fight between the players.

Before the brawl, the two teams were involved in a close, intense district game.

“It was a really good, competitive game,” Adams said. “I just think they let their emotions get the best of them. I’m just really disappointed in my team. I try to teach being a person of high character in my players. This completely went against everything I’ve tried to teach them. It’s disappointing.”

“I’m happy with how we played, but I’m not happy with how it ended,” Smith-Martin said. “I’ll have to watch the video to actually see what happened and then we’ll go from there.”