Strange ABA Story Continues to Unfold

Hours after storming the court and firing her coach, Nashville Rhythm co-owner Sally Anthony was rushed to a hospital after a 911 call by a relative who said she had tried to “hurt herself.”

A relative called 911 about 6 a.m. CST Sunday to report that Anthony was hurting herself, according to a 911 tape obtained by Associated Press on Tuesday.

“My sister-in-law is in her apartment right now, and she has taken some pills and mixed it with alcohol and taken scissors and cut up her arms,” said the caller, who identified herself as Susan.

Hours earlier, Anthony marched onto the court in the third quarter of the Rhythm’s 110-109 victory over Kansas City and demanded that Coach Ashley McElhiney bench a player and then told the coach she was fired.

Security guards had to escort Anthony from the court.

Anthony is one of three owners of Nashville’s American Basketball Assn. franchise, which made McElhiney the first female coach of a men’s professional team in May.

Anthony did not respond to e-mail and fax messages seeking comment Tuesday.

The 30-year-old Anthony was taken by ambulance to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she was treated for cuts on her arm and released Sunday.

She was quoted in different reports as saying she fell and also that she was bitten by a dog.

A woman who identified herself as Anthony’s mother told the Tennessean on Monday that it was “a total lie” to suggest that her daughter mixed pills with alcohol and tried to cut herself.

In the only official word from the team in the three days since the bizarre episode, the Rhythm owners issued a statement Tuesday apologizing to McElhiney.

“The ownership of the Nashville Rhythm would like to apologize to Ashley McElhiney, our fans, Lipscomb University [site of Rhythm home games], the city of Nashville and our sponsors for the incident,” the statement said.

The Rhythm said it was still reviewing the incident and hoped to make its decision “on a course of action as soon as possible.”