Brittney Griner—the same player who is changing the perception of the game of women’s basketball with her above-the-rim style of play, and ability to dunk and block shots (6.1 per game and she has recorded 11 in a game three times this season)—is also changing how it’s viewed by the public.

With one foul swoop, one swing of the arm, Brittney Griner took a serious step back for the same sport she is set to drastically change.

The 6’8” Baylor University freshman, in a game against Big 12 opponent Texas Tech, got tangled up on the block with Tech’s Jordan Barncastle. Barncastle aggressively pulled her arm back to her body as the referees broke it up and Griner came after her. The punch connected. A broken nose and an ended-season for Barncastle later, Griner was suspended for two games.

"I commend (Baylor) Coach Mulkey and (Baylor) Athletics Director Ian McCaw for taking strong action to support good sportsmanship,” Big 12 Commissioner, Dan Beebe said to Baylor’s Lariat.

Strong action?! Two games, hm, I know, that’s tough. That suspension is a punch, er… slap in the face to sportsmanship. The NCAA mandates a one-game suspension after a player is ejected from a game and Baylor added one more—just to make a we-are-freaking-serious-about-this statement. Griner will miss the regular-season finale against Texas and the first game of the Big 12 Tournament. Devastating.

Boy, Baylor really sent that message with conviction. No, not the message that assault and battery on the basketball court is unacceptable and deplorable. The message that if a team’s most important player (maybe an entire sport’s most important player) does something horrendous, he/she gets a pass heading into the postseason.

Griner, as a freshman, leads her team in scoring with 19 points per game. She has blocked 173 shots (the next highest total on the team is 15). She dunks, rebounds, runs the floor and is an all-around basketball beast. But she’s a student-athlete, too, and deserves to be held to the same disciplinary standards as Jane Doe on the diving team.

Not to defend Griner’s action whatsoever. It was cheap, uncalled-for, and an all-encompassing example of ugly; but all of this is a little bit funny because aggression is encouraged in male sports. When a woman does it, all hell breaks loose: “I think there’s no place for this in sports, especially women’s basketball,” said former NBA player and current ESPN analyst, Jalen Rose, on-air. True, there is no place for this type of violence in sports, but neither is condescension by NBA analysts about women’s college basketball. 

Speaking of all hell breaking loose, the incident late last year between two women’s soccer players incurred the same response. Yes, the head-snapping hair-pull by Elizabeth Lambert of New Mexico in a game against Brigham Young. I’m sure you’ve seen it on YouTube. And just as Lambert was suspended indefinitely and not allowed to play for the rest of the season for her atrocious move, so should Griner.

“She snapped, she’s not proud of it. She’s a kid who is a gentle giant. She’s well-spoken, she’s soft,” said Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey to Yahoo! Sports. “One incident is not going to identify or define Brittney Griner.”

Unfortunately, Mulkey is very wrong. Maybe Baylor students, supporters, and season-ticket holders will believe that; but the rest of the nation that just sees an intimidating 6’8” 19-year-old, who wears a size 17 shoe, will not. Yes, she will be known for the dunking and shot-blocking, but this one incident will certainly stay with her.