Utah women suffer racial taunts

SPOKANE, Wash. — Utah coach Lynne Roberts said her team experienced a series of “racial hate crimes” after arriving at its first women’s NCAA Tournament hotel and was forced to change accommodation during the event for safety concerns.

Roberts revealed what happened after Utah lost to host Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAAs on Monday night. Roberts didn’t go into detail but said there were several incidents that happened Thursday night after the team arrived in the area for the tournament and were disturbing to the traveling party to the point there were concerns about safety.

Utah was staying about 30 miles away in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and was relocated to a different hotel Friday. Hotel space in Spokane was tight with eight men’s NCAA teams also playing there.

“We had several instances of some kind of racial hate crimes toward our program and (it was) incredibly upsetting for all of us,” Roberts said.

Tony Stewart ,an official with the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, said Tuesday the Utes were walking from the hotel to a restaurant when a truck with a Confederate flag drove up. The driver began using racist language, including the Nword. After the team left the restaurant, the same driver again yelled at the players.

Coeur d’Alene police said they are working with the FBI on an investigation.

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