When the Indiana Fever locked horns with the Golden State Valkyries on July 15, Gabby Williams & Co. snapped their streak with an 88-75 win. However, a physical play involving Caitlin Clark once again reignited the league-wide debate over how she’s officiated. “I got kneed right in the quad. Like, that hurts. Like, the ref can’t miss that,” Clark said after the game, and Hoops for Hotties host Mariah Rose believes Clark blew it out of proportion.

“When I saw the slow-mo replay of this situation play out, and I saw that she was not kneed, she was not touched. She was not brushed up on. That did not happen,” Rose said.

“And on top of that, she fake-limped to the other side of the court. Caitlin, I’m getting the ick! What are we doing, mama? I didn’t like that. So the fake limping when you didn’t get touched by Kiah Stokes.”

In the second quarter of that game, when Caitlin Clark was attacking the basket, she collided with Valkyries center Stokes and went down, crashing to the floor. Officials did not call this play, which prompted an immediate protest from the Fever star, who turned toward the referee to argue the no-call. But the ref, standing firm on his judgment, issued a warning to the 24-year-old.

Yet CC remained adamant that the officials had missed the play.

“And then I have to play with a contusion in my leg the rest of the game. It’s ridiculous. [The ref] said I initiated the contact. Which is fine, but you can’t knee me in the leg. Knock me over.”

Now, for many fans, this was déjà vu. On June 24 against the Phoenix Mercury, Caitlin Clark took a hit to the neck from Alyssa Thomas that officials also failed to call. However, Rose wasn’t convinced this time.

“She freaked the f— out on the ref, like she had gotten kneed in the quad, as she put it. And then after the game, she even gave, like… a Karen speech and was like, ‘the refs just can’t miss that.’ And then when we look back at it in slow-mo and the replay, she wasn’t touched. She’s talking about, ‘I had to play the rest of the game with a contusion,’ but she didn’t touch you. What was contused?” Rose added.

For what it’s worth, not everyone is convinced the contact never happened. So once again, fans have found themselves divided over the incident. But if you were to ask head coach Stephanie White, she wasn’t interested in debating the specifics of one play.

“I’m trying to not get fined. Again, all I’ll say is that we just keep asking for consistency,” White said.

Whether fans side with Caitlin Clark or Rose, one thing is clear – the debate over how the Fever star is officiated this season isn’t ending anytime soon.