Narbonne H.S. wins pink jersey appeal, reinstated in tournament
The Nathaniel Narbonne (Harbor City, Calif.) High School girls basketball team is back in the California Interscholastic Federation L.A. City Section tournament after winning an appeal Tuesday.
The girls were originally removed from the tournament because they wore jerseys with pink letters and numbers in the semifinal win on Saturday. The jerseys were from breast cancer awareness month, but had not been approved for the rest of the year. Pink is not at official Narbonne color, so wearing the jerseys was in violation of league rules.
The coach told the Los Angeles Times that it was a mistake; that she didn't know they had to fill out a waiver in order to wear the jerseys.
The Narbonne girls had also worn the jerseys in the City Section quarterfinal, without a problem. After the semifinal, the City Section commissioner announced that the team had been removed from the City Section tournament and would not be allowed to play in the state tournament.
The decision sparked immediate backlash on social media. Even the executive director of the CIF said the punishment was "not appropriate."
Narbonne appealled the decision, and was granted its rightful place in the championship. When the girls take the court on Saturday, though, they'll be doing so without their coach. Coach Victoria Sanders is suspended for the rest of 2015, including the state playoffs.
Narbonne will also be on probation for the entire 2015-2016 season, and cannot host a home playoff game in 2016, according to the L.A. Times.
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Danielle Elliot is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Contact her at delliot@yahoo-inc.com or follow her on Twitter or Facebook.
