[Goose]

I agree it was far from an assault. I think it may have legitimately been hard enough to be an intentional under the rules. Especially since the rules leave whether the contact is "excessive" to the ref's judgement.

in addition to being hard and to the breasts, the blow was not part of the flow of the game. neither player was near the ball. they were not jockeying for position. brink clearly had achieved position near the basket, and bella was fronting her; both were standing still while cam awaited an entry pass. murakatete was not trying to move cam out of position; bella whacked cam instead of trying to mover her out of position.  thus the contact was clearly "excessive." perhaps similar to the famous draymond green blow to lebron's crotch. draymond was lying down. lebron stepped over him disrespectfully. draymond struck/flailed upwards with his hand (not particularly hard; bella's blow was much harder and included a wind-up) but to a vulnerable area and not in the flow of the game.

I agree it wasn't an assault, as an assault (according to Webster)

The crime or tort of threatening or attempting to inflict immediate offensive physical contact or bodily harm that one has the present ability to inflict and that puts the victim in fear of such harm or contact.

Brink was not in "fear" of such contact because she never saw it coming. It was a "cheap shot". It was certainly a battery, but from the definition of battery all fouls are. The point here is that as the OP stated the blow was not in any way related to the flow of the game. It was simply an act of unprovoked, gratuitous violence. Also as stated by the OP, there was a "wind up" and it was a blow to a vulnerable area.  It was intended to hurt at the very least. I don't agree that it was much like Draymond and Lebron. Draymond took offense to Lebron stepping over him. Draymond's reaction was all out of proportion, but at least there was arguably a "reason" Draymond was angered. In the case of Murekatete there was no proximate "reason" to do what she did. IMO that is why a much more significant punishment is warranted. Student-athletes aren't supposed to do things like that. Losing your temper is bad enough, but attempting to hurt someone for no apparent reason IMO has to be significantly sanctioned.

FWIW, laughter is often the response when people see something that is so strange and unexpected they have no conditioned response. The "did that actually happen?" feeling is often followed by laughter, even when the event itself may be quite serious it its effects.

[Goose]

I agree it was far from an assault. I think it may have legitimately been hard enough to be an intentional under the rules. Especially since the rules leave whether the contact is "excessive" to the ref's judgement.

in addition to being hard and to the breasts, the blow was not part of the flow of the game. neither player was near the ball. they were not jockeying for position. brink clearly had achieved position near the basket, and bella was fronting her; both were standing still while cam awaited an entry pass. murakatete was not trying to move cam out of position; bella whacked cam instead of trying to mover her out of position.  thus the contact was clearly "excessive." perhaps similar to the famous draymond green blow to lebron's crotch. draymond was lying down. lebron stepped over him disrespectfully. draymond struck/flailed upwards with his hand (not particularly hard; bella's blow was much harder and included a wind-up) but to a vulnerable area and not in the flow of the game.

I agree it wasn't an assault, as an assault (according to Webster)

The crime or tort of threatening or attempting to inflict immediate offensive physical contact or bodily harm that one has the present ability to inflict and that puts the victim in fear of such harm or contact.

Brink was not in "fear" of such contact because she never saw it coming. It was a "cheap shot". It was certainly a battery, but from the definition of battery all fouls are. The point here is that as the OP stated the blow was not in any way related to the flow of the game. It was simply an act of unprovoked, gratuitous violence. Also as stated by the OP, there was a "wind up" and it was a blow to a vulnerable area.  It was intended to hurt at the very least. I don't agree that it was much like Draymond and Lebron. Draymond took offense to Lebron stepping over him. Draymond's reaction was all out of proportion, but at least there was arguably a "reason" Draymond was angered. In the case of Murekatete there was no proximate "reason" to do what she did. IMO that is why a much more significant punishment is warranted. Student-athletes aren't supposed to do things like that. Losing your temper is bad enough, but attempting to hurt someone for no apparent reason IMO has to be significantly sanctioned.

FWIW, laughter is often the response when people see something that is so strange and unexpected they have no conditioned response. The "did that actually happen?" feeling is often followed by laughter, even when the event itself may be quite serious it its effects.