UPDATED: Medgar Evers, Grand Street forfeit remainder of seasons after brawl

An ugly brawl during the second quarter of a girls basketball game between Medgar Evers and Grand Street Campus on Wednesday resulted in a double forfeit and will cost both teams the rest of their regular seasons, The Post has learned.

Early in the second quarter of a PSAL Brooklyn AA Group 2 game in Bushwick, Ebony Carter of host Grand Street punched Medgar Evers junior Shakila Small in the face, igniting an ugly melee that resulted in spectators from the stands rushing out onto the court, both coaches said.

Referees David Reed and Sal Franco actually allowed the game to continue, but when their report was filed to the PSAL, the league initiated its brawl rule, which states “in the event of an altercation, if teacher/coaches lose control of their benches and both benches clear to participate in an altercation that game will be declared a double forfeit and both teams will forfeit a minimum of the next two scheduled league games.”

Kendall Rodriguez

Medgar Evers junior Shakila Small was punched in the face during an altercation Wednesday against Grand Street Campus.

An Rong Xu

Grand Street Campus coach Corey McFarlane was stunned that the referees allowed the game to continue and then filed a brawl report inducing a double forfeit.

Medgar Evers, which was 4-7 in league play, had contests remaining against Francis Lewis, Banneker and Truman. Grand Street (2-9) had scheduled games with Truman, Brooklyn Collegiate and John F. Kennedy forfeited.

"There was an altercation in the game and the players left the bench areaand came onto the court," Department of Education spokesperson Marge Feinberg said. "They will be eligible for the playoffs."

Both coaches plan on appealing the PSAL’s ruling, they told The Post.

Medgar Evers coach Kenon Crumble said two of his players, Kailyn Richburg and Gabrielle Williams, were wrongfully ejected, because all they were doing was breaking up the fight. None of his girls left the bench, Crumble said, and it was Carter who started the fight when she clocked Small in the face. Small, the coach added, has a knot on her face to prove the contact.

Crumble says the game was being filmed and that he plans on sending the video to the PSAL to clear his team from any wrongdoing. He said the league could have a copy of the tape by Friday.

“It’ll show basically that Grand Street started the fight,” Crumble said. “It’s hard to tell a player not to protect herself.”

Grand Street coach Corey McFarlane fully admits that Carter punched Small. But he said it was only retaliation for two straight elbows to the neck from Small to Carter. McFarlane adds that the video should tell a different story than Crumble claims.

“Medgar Evers, their whole bench cleared,” he said. “It happened right in front of our bench. One of our girls left the bench.”

Carter, Shirley Palmer and Demesha Donaldson were all ejected from the game. Palmer, McFarlane said, has no role in the incident at all. He added that Small has a history with Grand Street Campus. She and former Wolves player Tamara Jones got into a fight at an AAU event in June.

Both coaches did agree on one thing: the officiating was poor. McFarlane said he begged the referees to put a stop to the game in the third quarter when things remained chippy, even offering to have his team forfeit. Franco and Reed refused, he said. Crumble said that the officials did nothing to break up the fight and did nothing to cool the flaring tempers during the contest despite “three of four chances” to do so.

“And it’s those same two officials who were able to determine the outcome of the rest of our season,” McFarlane said.

They each hope the video will vindicate their teams by next week, though.

“If there was a complete brawl and the environment wasn’t safe,” McFarlane said, “how do you let the game continue for another [almost] three quarters?”

mraimondi@nypost.com