They’ll play the Minnesota Lynx on July 1 in the championship duel. “We’re excited. That’s a big deal. And obviously New York helped us out a little bit to get there,” Fever star Caitlin Clark said postgame. “You know, it’s a hard thing to do and why wouldn’t we celebrate that?”
The winner of the Fever-Lynx battle will earn a $500,000 prize to be split among the roster. There is also a charitable donation headed toward a charity chosen by the winning team. “We’re getting to play for a pool of money. Like, that’s pretty fun,” Clark added.
It should have been a celebratory night for the Indiana Fever. Clinching a spot in that title game is a significant deal, and the team also showed significant improvement against Connecticut. The Sun beat the Fever earlier this season in Indianapolis; this time, the Fever were better on both ends.
Basketball should have been the story. And Clark wanted it to be, when speaking with reporters postgame. The Fever played well and are currently over .500 for the first time all season. But the battle — and the story postgame — drifted away from everyone’s mind. Instead, the main focus became the officiating and how it impacted the game itself.
Throughout the night, Jacy Sheldon spent her time being the pesky defender she is known to be. She chased Clark around and face-guarded her far from the basket. It didn’t slow Indiana down as a team, but the idea was to limit Clark.
In the middle of the third quarter, as Sheldon applied pressure defensively, she reached in and hit Clark in the face. The whistle blew instantly, but Clark didn’t like the contact and gave Sheldon a small jab afterwards. That wasn’t taken kindly by Sun players, and a small kerfuffle ensued. Marina Mabrey knocked Clark down during the interaction, which filled the arena with boos.
For the rest of the night, Mabrey heard boos on every touch. They were loud. Most fans felt she should have been ejected, and Alexa Philippou of ESPN reported Wednesday that Mabrey’s foul was upgraded to a flagrant 2. That comes with a fine.
Sheldon and Clark continued to play up close and personal for the rest of the game and got chippy at other points throughout the night. After Clark hit a three-point shot that extended Indiana’s lead to 20 with Sheldon as the closest defender, the Indiana Fever star let out a scream toward the Connecticut bench. She was amped and passionate about the coming important win.
Yet with 46 seconds left, that victory would see more controversy. As Sheldon raced toward the rim looking for a layup in transition, she met Indiana Fever wing Sophie Cunningham, who was back to defend the play. Cunningham didn’t make a play on the ball and wrapped up Sheldon, taking her to the ground with a foul.
Sheldon and Sun guard Lindsay Allen took exception to the foul and went at Cunningham, who was standing up just off the court after the play. A second, much more serious kerfuffle ensued. And it was so much more serious that Allen and Sheldon were assessed fighting technicals, which led to their ejection. Cunningham received a flagrant 2, which ended her night as well.
In the end, six technical fouls were assessed (Clark, Tina Charles, Mabrey, Allen, Sheldon, and Aneesah Morrow). Three players were ejected, and Mabrey would have been if a flagrant 2 was called during that game.
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The emotions got out of hand, with players and coaches from both teams blasting the officiating postgame. “I think it was pretty obvious that stuff was brewing,” Fever head coach Stephanie White said postgame. She was fired up and had a lot more to say. “When the officials don’t get control of the ball game, when they allow that stuff to happen. And it’s been happening all season long. All season long. It’s not just this game. It’s been happening all season long. This is what happens, right? This is what happens. You’ve got competitive women who are the best in the world at what they do. Right. And when you allow them to play physical and you allow these things to happen, they’re going to compete and they’re going to have their teammates’ backs.”
White later said that conversations about the quality of officiating have taken place at league meetings recently. In her eyes, though, nothing has changed. “The game has changed so much. Players are faster, they’re better, they’re bigger, they’re stronger. You know, they’re as good as they’ve ever been,” White began. “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.”
The head coach explained that she could tell the game was headed for a chippy one as early as the first quarter. The refs were losing control of the game, and White knew it would build into something at some point.
White was asked to clarify what she meant by officials needing to get control of the game. Clark quickly chimed in with “Call fouls.” White then shared that she thinks it’s “Calling the fouls that are actually happening on the floor. And consistently call the fouls that are actually happening on the floor. Okay. Not just if somebody swings and misses. Right. Like consistently call the fouls.”
Philippou reported that neither White nor Sun head coach Rachid Meziane were fined for their criticisms of officials postgame. But the fact that both coaches chose to blast the refereeing was telling, and it marred what should have been a positive night for the Indiana Fever.
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