Garner referee hits girl?

GARNER (WTVD) -- A Wake County teen claims a referee punched her in the face during a basketball game last weekend in Garner.

Sanderson High School basketball standout Katrena Belser, 18, was playing in a league event at the Garner YMCA.

She says her father questioned a call and then referee Cardise Reed, 31, got mad, hit her dad, and then hit her.

"I saw him rip his whistle off and all the sudden he started throwing punches at my father and the other referee was holding him back and I ran over there and I was like 'Hey you can't hit my dad,' and he just like squared up and punched me in the face," said Belser.

The teen is now sporting a bruise on her face.

Raleigh police were called and cited all three with "simple affray," or fighting. The incident report blames all three parties equally for what happened, but the Belsers claim they didn't do anything wrong and say the ref should have been charged with assault.

"This guy doesn't need to be getting off or getting a slap on the wrist or paying a fine for inciting a ruckus, he needs to be locked up for assault on a female," offered Belser's father Stephen Belser.

"I don't think he should be able to ref again," said the teen.

Meanwhile, the Sanderson senior is worried the incident will impact college basketball scholarships she's been offered.

"I've never been in trouble so I guess my biggest concern is me having to go to court, so I don't want people, colleges, coaches to look at me like I might be trouble, because I'm not," she said.

Belser and her father have collected statements from players and parents who witnessed the incident. They plan to present those to the judge when they go to trial on the fighting charges in July.

Eyewitness News spoke with Reed by phone Wednesday evening, but he refused to comment on the incident and referred us to his lawyer before hanging up. We contacted him again Thursday to try to get the name of his lawyer, but he declined to give it and again declined to comment for this story.

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