WATCH: Wild Brawl Ensues At Women’s SEC Basketball Tournament Resulting In 8 Players Ejected

A wild brawl broke out during a first-round game of the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament between the University of Kentucky and the University of Florida.

Halfway through the third quarter of Wednesday’s game, play was halted after Florida’s Tatyana Wyche threw the ball in the direction of Kentucky’s Ajae Petty. Wyche appeared to take exception to Petty after she handed the Florida forward the ball after Kentucky made a basket.

The referee awarded Wyche a technical foul for the unsportsmanlike action, and then she charged In the direction of Petty and the rest of the Kentucky Wildcats bench. Some players with cooler heads broke up the altercation before it escalated, and Florida’s head coach Kelly Rae Finley ran over from her team’s bench to help break up the fight.

“We don’t need that,” ESPN color commentator Tamika Catchings said.

When ESPN replayed the footage from the beginning of the scuffle, it showed that Petty handed the ball off into Wyche’s face, similar to how a quarterback hands the football off to a running back.

Wyche was ejected from the game. Seven others were tossed out for leaving the bench. Players are prohibited from leaving the bench area under any circumstances, or they will get escorted to the locker room.

Faith Dut, Ra Shaya Kyle, and Taliyah Wyche (Tatyana’s sister) were all ejected on the Florida side. Cassidy Rowe, Eniya Russell, Zennia Thomas, and Saniah Tyler for Kentucky were kicked out of the contest.

Kentucky beat Flordia 72-57 as the Wildcats move on to the next round of the SEC Tournament.

Former NBA star Dwight Howard was involved in a similar incident in Taiwan’s professional basketball league last week. Howard and eleven other players were ejected from a game due to a brawl started by an assistant coach and a player on the other team.

Watch above via the SEC Network.