Caitlin Clark incident draws fierce response from Fever coach

Tempers flared multiple times during the Indiana Fever’s win over the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday with Caitlin Clark being at the center of the escapades once again.

Clark and Sun guard Jacy Sheldon were getting chippy at the beginning of the game, but it was not until the third quarter that tensions boiled over. Sheldon poked Clark in the eye, and it set off a skirmish that ended with Sun guard Marina Mabrey shoving Clark to the ground.

Clark, for some reason, was assessed a technical foul during the incident, as was Mabrey and Sun veteran Tina Charles. Sheldon’s common foul was upgraded to a flagrant.

It was not the only incident as Fever guard Sophie Cunningham delivered a hard foul onto Sheldon, who reacted angrily. There was a ton of pushing and shoving along the baseline and officials later ejected Cunningham, Sheldon and Lindsay Allen.

Fever head coach Stephanie White was none too happy with the officials after the game. She said she did not receive any explanation for the technical foul on Clark and put the onus on the officials to get control of the game in its early stages.

“I think it was pretty obvious that stuff was brewing,” White said, via Indy Star. “When officials don’t get control of the ball game, when they allow that stuff to happen … it’s been happening all season long, all season long. It’s not just this game.

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“This is what happens. You’ve got competitive women who are the best in the world at what they do and when you allow them to play physical, and you allow these things to happen, they’re gonna compete, and they’re gonna have their teammates’ backs. It’s exactly what you would expect out of fierce competition.

“I started talking to officials in the first quarter, and we knew this was gonna happen. You knew this was gonna happen. They gotta get control of it. They gotta be better. They gotta be better.”

Crew chief Ashley Gross spoke to a pool reporter after the game and was asked about the Clark technical foul.

“After the foul by Sheldon, Clark reacted in an unsportsmanlike manner,” Goss said.

White said each coach brings officiating issues up during league meetings and understands the job is getting tougher, but officials need to find a way to remedy their calls with the ever-changing league.

“The game has changed so much. Players are faster, they’re better, they’re bigger, they’re stronger, they’re as good as they’ve ever been, as athletic as they’ve ever been. The game is fast, now. Things are happening quickly,” White said. “Everyone is getting better, except the officials. So we gotta find a way to remedy it. 

“We’ve heard every coach talk about it. I don’t know what the answer is.”

Indiana won the game 88-71.

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