WNBA star Caitlin Clark is off the injured list and back on the court, so naturally, that means it is open season on trying to injure her once again. But this time, the Fever’s coach finally spoke up about the targeting of her star player.
Clark and Connecticut Sun guard Jacy Sheldon got into it on Tuesday early in the game. Still, it turned more violent in the third quarter when Sheldon gouged Clark in the eye, and then, during the resulting arguments, Sun guard Marina Mabrey ran up and gave Clark a full-body check, slamming her to the floor.
WATCH:
Closer look in slow motion pic.twitter.com/oDcx9NeGAe
— Clark Report (@CClarkReport) June 18, 2025
Mabrey was not ejected from the game, indicating that the WNBA continues to refuse to punish violence against Clark.
The fouls on Clark were so blatant that even Fever head coach Stephanie White finally spoke out about the mistreatment. White has generally stood mute as Clark is punched, kicked, eye-gouged, pushed, and slammed to the floor at nearly every game. But on Tuesday, she seemed to have had enough.
“I think it was pretty obvious that stuff was brewing,” White said, according to the Indianapolis 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.
“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,” White added.
“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,” she exclaimed.
Stephanie White starts the press conference by saying she’ll take all questions related to officiating, then goes on an impassioned diatribe about the officiating: pic.twitter.com/qFQM7Cfkyg
— Chloe Peterson (@chloepeterson67) June 18, 2025
To compound the outrage, the refs actually gave Clark a penalty and assessed a technical foul on her for “unsportsmanlike behavior” after she was attacked. And referee crew chief Ashley Gross justified the call after the game.
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