Wisconsin basketball player, 14, pierced by piece of broken floor

MIDDLETON, Wis. -- A high school basketball player in southern Wisconsin is expected to return to the court soon after she was impaled by a piece of a gym's wood floor.

The 14-year-old Wisconsin Heights High School player was running down the court during a basketball tournament Sunday when she fell and slid along the floor at a field house in Middleton.

Tournament organizer Perry Hibner told WISC-TV that the girl told the referee that she couldn't get up because there was a piece of wood stuck to her.

"And the official said: 'What do you mean? Are you hurt?'" Hibner told the station. "And she said, 'There's a piece of wood stuck to me.'"

Splinters from the broken piece of wood -- 3 to 4 inches long -- had pierced the girl's stomach region. Spectators were asked to temporarily leave the tournament as paramedics treated the girl and rushed her to a Madison hospital, where she spent the night.

Hibner told the station that the girl had "some exploratory surgery" and suffered no internal organ damage.

"I just think sometimes strange things happen, and there's no explanation for the phenomena," Hibner said. "... Kind of like a strike of lightning, where you just don't think those things are going to happen. It was a complete fluke."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.