The first question during the Indiana Fever’s press conference following their 88-71 win over the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday was directed at Caitlin Clark. It referenced a third-quarter incident in which she received a technical foul after being hit in the face by Jacy Sheldon and knocked to the ground by Marina Mabrey.
Fever coach Stephanie White intercepted it and said she would handle the officiating questions. Did she ever. “Everybody’s getting better, except the officials,” White said during a multi-minute rant that called out Tuesday’s refs for losing control of the game and criticized the league and officials as a whole for failing to improve.
Clark and Sheldon have history dating back to their collegiate rivalry in the Big Ten, when they played for Iowa and Ohio State, respectively. There was also a contentious game between the Fever and Sun earlier this year in which Sheldon was involved in multiple incidents that ended with Fever players — Sydney Colson and Sophie Cunningham — leaving the game with injuries.
It was no surprise that Tuesday’s contest was chippy right from the start. The animosity boiled over in the third quarter when Clark was trying to operate against Sheldon near the top of the key. Both players were being physical with each other when Sheldon reached for a steal and caught Clark in the face. Clark took exception and pushed Sheldon. Mabrey then quickly arrived on the scene and sent Clark sprawling with a body check.
“I think that it was pretty obvious that stuff was brewing when officials don’t get control of the ball game, when they allow that stuff to happen,” White said. “And it’s been happening all season long. It’s not just this game, it’s been happening all season long.
“When you allow them to play physical and you allow these things to happen, they’re gonna compete,” White continued. “And they’re gonna have their teammates’ backs. It’s exactly what you expect out of fierce competition. I started talking to the officials in the first quarter, and we knew this was gonna happen. You could tell it was gonna happen. They gotta get control of it, they gotta be better.”
After a lengthy review, Sheldon was issued a Flagrant 1 for “unnecessary” contact to Clark’s face with “wind up and impact,” according to crew chief Ashley Gloss in the pool report. Clark, Mabrey and Sun forward Tina Charles were hit with technical fouls.
That was not the last time the refs would need to go to the monitor. With less than a minute to play, Sheldon came up with a steal and raced the other way. Sophie Cunningham was the only defender to beat, but Sheldon never had a chance. Cunningham wrapped her up with a hard foul and threw her to the ground, sparking a scuffle between the teams.
Cunningham’s foul was upgraded to a Flagrant 2, which comes with an automatic ejection, and Sheldon and Sun guard Lindsay Allen were both ejected as well. “Sheldon and Allen were both escalators in that altercation and therefore they were ejected for fighting,” Gloss said in the pool report.
White said that the officials inability to control the game is something that affects every team, not just the Fever. “Bad officiating is bad officiating,” White said.
“Every year, when we have our league meetings in the fall and in the spring, we say the same thing over and over and over, and nothing has changed,” White continued. “Look, [the officials’] job is hard. [The players’] job is hard. The game has changed so much. Players are faster, they’re bigger, they’re better, they’re stronger, they’re as good as they’ve ever been, they’re as athletic as they’ve ever been. The game is fast now. Things are happening quickly. Everybody’s getting better, except the officials. So we gotta find a way to remedy it. You’ve heard every coach talk about it, so I don’t know what the answer is.”
Earlier in the season, White was fined for comments she made regarding the officials after a loss to the New York Liberty. The check she’ll have to make out to the league office after Tuesday’s tirade will surely be even bigger.
The officiating controversy overshadowed the fact that the Fever looked strong again with Clark in the lineup. She put up 20 points and six assists to lead the Fever to their second consecutive double-digit win since her return from a quad strain that kept her out for five games. (The Fever went 2-3 in her absence.)
With Tuesday’s win, the Fever also qualified for the Commissioner’s Cup championship game for the first time in franchise history. They will play the Minnesota Lynx in Minneapolis on July 1, with a $500,000 prize pool on the line.
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