As far as I'm concerned, the guy doing the macing de-escalated the situation in a hurry. What's the old adage?
When met with force, respond twice as hard to get the enemy to call off the attack. (Paraphrased).
That worked. Had someone HIT her, that could have triggered an all out brawl. She got maced and walked away.
From what I understand, this was the second guy she hit. She had hit someone else earlier.