NBA picks Ashley Moyer-Gleich as first woman playoff ref since '12 - ESPN

Ashley Moyer-Gleich checked her email just before heading to the airport Saturday for a trip to what she thought would be her final game of the season.

That's when the news came in: She has more games to do.

Moyer-Gleich will soon become only the second woman in NBA history to referee a playoff game. She was one of 36 referees announced by the league Thursday as its referee selections for Round 1 of the playoffs starting this weekend.

«It's surreal,» Moyer-Gleich said. «It really is.»

She joins Violet Palmer as the only women picked by the NBA for a playoff assignment. Palmer worked nine playoff games between 2006 and 2012.

Moyer-Gleich, a former Division II player at Millersville University in her native Pennsylvania, was promoted to the full-time NBA officiating ranks in November 2018. She has worked more than 200 regular-season games in her six seasons and is one of three first-time playoff selections by the league this year — Marat Kogut and J.T. Orr are the others.

«I worked four games as an alternate last year, so obviously, my goal was I wanted to be an alternate again because that's just sustaining the growth that I've had in my career,» Moyer-Gleich said. «And then to see my name on list of working floor officials… I mean, my mom was with me, she came with me on my last two games for a little trip, and to open that email and have her there with me and share that news, it was really quite amazing.»

The full list of first-round referees chosen by the NBA: Ray Acosta, Brent Barnaky, Curtis Blair, Tony Brothers, Nick Buchert, James Capers, Sean Corbin, Kevin Cutler, Marc Davis, JB DeRosa, Mitchell Ervin, Tyler Ford, Brian Forte, Scott Foster, Pat Fraher, Jacyn Goble, John Goble, David Guthrie, Bill Kennedy, Courtney