Thread: Male cheerleader attacked by female athletes

From The Columbia Daily Tribune:

Johnson, Hanneman suspended

The Missouri women’s basketball team is moving forward without
its two leading scorers.

Seniors Amanda Hanneman and Jessra Johnson have been
suspended indefinitely, Coach Cindy Stein said yesterday, after
police said the pair assaulted a 21-year-old male cheerleader for
the MU football and men’s basketball teams early Friday morning.

Hanneman and Johnson were arrested on suspicion of
third-degree assault. Both were released on $500 bond.

The incident happened in the hours after Missouri beat Texas Pan-American 83-34 on Thursday night at Mizzou Arena. Columbia police Sgt. Timothy Moriarity said Hanneman and Johnson were among a group that left a Columbia bar for an apartment at 36 N. Cedar Drive.

Moriarity said the altercation began around 2 a.m. when one of the apartment’s tenants complained the gathering was too loud. The complainant, a senior at Missouri, was left with a broken nose and an eye injury.

Moriarity called it a “dynamic disturbance,” with at least eight people “trying to break it up, different people trying to get involved.” He said Hanneman and Johnson left the apartment after the dispute but the victim and witnesses gave the police a description of the two players. Their vehicle was pulled over nearby.

Hanneman and Johnson were the only ones arrested.

“Obviously, I’m extremely disappointed, and I’m sure our team’s disappointed,” Stein said. “I know these two young ladies are extremely disappointed. There’s a huge letdown. We have to rally around teammates who have gotten themselves into a bad situation.”

Asked if the two would return this season, Stein said, “I don’t know. Honestly, there are a lot of stories out there. We have to wade through them all.”

Stein said the arrests “came down to two girls making bad decisions.” Neither was in violation of team policy regarding curfew. Stein asks that players not be out late in the 48 hours leading up to games.

The suspensions will be costly for the Tigers (6-2), who play host to Murray State (4-4) at 1 p.m. today at Mizzou Arena.

Johnson, a three-year starter from Fayette, averages 14.1 points per game and recently eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for her career. She leads the team with 7.3 rebounds per game.

Hanneman had been one of the Big 12’s feel-good stories.

Beset by injuries over her first three seasons — Hanneman averaged 1.7 points last year — the Blue Springs native scored a career-high 26 points in Missouri’s season-opening 74-57 victory over Northern Iowa and is averaging 13.4 points. The Tigers’ top long-distance threat has hit 25 of 57 3-pointers.