basketball (illustrative)
basketball (illustrative)Reuters

Members of a Maine high school girls' basketball team have been disciplined after a picture surfaced online of team members giving a Nazi salute.

The picture shows two players of the Greely High School girls' basketball team facing each other, smiling, and giving the Nazi salute with one arm in the air, while a third player sits cross-legged between them, holding her hands in peace signs. All three are wearing their team uniforms, The Portland Press Herald reported.

Members of the team had reportedly been referring to one player as "Hitler," according to a letter sent to parents of the players.

Administrators said in the letter that "inappropriate and biased language (was) used by members of the team."

"We're certainly taking it very seriously," said Greely High Principal Dan McKeone, who said the players have been disciplined, but did not disclose the exact nature of the punishment.

McKeone said the discussion was aimed at "helping our kids understand that once you put something out there, it's out there, and you can't take it back," according to the newspaper.

This is reportedly the second anti-Semitic incident in the Cumberland-North Yarmouth school district this school year.

In December, Greely Middle School and some privately owned buildings nearby were vandalized with swastikas and hateful language that was later removed.