It’s only been three days since DiJonai Carrington got controversially ejected from the game against the Indiana Fever on Saturday after hitting Sophie Cunningham with a flagrant 2. However, in their latest loss against the Golden State Valkyries, where the Sky guard struggled, she has already drawn criticism on social media for two similar plays on Wednesday at the Chase Center.
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Fans posted clips of Carrington striking two different Valkyries on the face. User @Jajarbinksbinks posted their clip of the live broadcast, which showed the Chicago Sky guard jumping to defend Golden State’s Tiffany Hayes as she drove inside from the right to split two defenders and made a daring acrobatic layup. While doing so, cameras caught DiJonai Carrington hitting Hayes across the face as she attempted to block her shot.
Although the impact wasn’t as substantial as what happened when she tried to block Cunningham’s layup, the sequence was similar. Officials made no foul call on Carrington for this play. Rather, a shooting foul was called against Elizabeth Williams, who also caught Hayes while she took her shot. In another clip reshared by BrickCenter, cameras caught Carrington making contact with Cecilia Zandalasini’s face.
DiJonai Carrington, while defending against Zandalasini, is seen putting both her hands up and hitting Zandalasini in the face and catching her in the eyes with her right hand as she goes for the ball. The move sent the Valkyries’ number 24 to the ground, holding her face.
Those moves even caught Jason Whitlock’s attention, who, despite his polarizing reputation among WNBA fans, posted, “out of the league,” and “Get this woman out of basketball,” on social media.
Carrington did, however, receive support from her coach after the Indiana Fever game, with head coach Tyler Marsh saying he didn’t think the foul warranted an upgrade to a Flagrant 2.
“In the moment, I thought that she made a play on the ball,” Marsh told reporters after the game.
“I didn’t think it warranted a flagrant two. I didn’t see the replay when it happened. So that was my initial thoughts. But the officials made what they made. I haven’t looked at that play since. So I really don’t know if it was justified or not. So that’s what I thought in the moment.”
DiJonai Carrington has not offered any response this time, contrary to her takes after getting ejected against the Fever, where she posted the date of the Sky’s rematch with the Fever, hinting that she couldn’t wait to get back in the paint with Indiana.
Unfortunately for Carrington, nothing went her way against the Valkyries. While she scored 26 points in 27 minutes off the bench in Chicago’s last game against the Seattle Storm, she could only score 3 points in 24 minutes and make just 1-of-9 from the field.
On the other hand, it was a game to remember for Tiffany Hayes, as she scored her season-high 22 points off the bench and added 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Veronica Burton added another 13 points and 6 rebounds as the Golden State Valkyries extended their winning streak to five games and marked Golden State’s 14th win in their last 16 games.
The Valkyries will look to extend their winning run as they take on the Wings next on August 17.