“Forget Paige Bueckers, forget Angel Reese…Caitlin Clark is up against her biggest rival,” the internet echoed before the Fever laced up for their rematch with the Connecticut Sun. In case you don’t remember, Jacy Sheldon is the one Clark went toe-to-toe with countless times in the Big Ten, back when Sheldon wore Ohio State red and every meeting with Iowa felt like a battle. That history didn’t fade. Even last year, the tension was visible when Clark sent her crashing to the floor. And as they say, old rivalries die hard. It was on display again. But this time, it wasn’t subtle. 

This one got ugly. After a while, it was clear that this whole thing wasn’t even about that previous Sun win. It was personal. You could feel it building all night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Clark and a few Connecticut players had some back-and-forths earlier in the game, and well, it exploded. In the third quarter, things first flared up when Clark and Sheldon’s encounter turned all chaotic.

But you know, just when we thought that was the most heated moment of the game? We were wrong. Fast forward to the final 46.1 seconds. The Fever were up 87-70. Pretty much game over, right? But then Sheldon went in for a layup, and bam – Sophie Cunningham full-on grabbed her and chucked her to the floor. No play on the ball. Just vibes and rage. Immediately, Fever guard Lindsay Allen stepped in, probably trying to prevent a total meltdown, but Sheldon jumped right back up and went straight for Cunningham. The benches started shifting, the crowd was roaring, and it was just chaos.

After what felt like an eternity, the refs finally sorted it out. Cunningham was with a flagrant-2 and tossed. Sheldon and Allen both got techs and were also ejected. That’s three players gone in under a minute. The broadcasters had had it by then. But who did they think was at fault? No, not the players. But the refs instead.

“Blaming this all on the officials tonight,” one said. “If they had taken care of business earlier, we wouldn’t be in this situation.” They repeated it multiple times. “I’m exhausted with this game and the officiating,” one of them said. Well, some fans might agree with their whole heart. Why, you may ask? Let’s talk about the previous incident to understand it better.

So during the third, Clark was driving into the paint and ran into old college rival Jacy Sheldon. Sheldon played her tough – so tough, she ended up poking Clark right in the eye. A foul was called, but just a regular one. Clark was not having it. She was fuming, and they started jawing at each other before it escalated into some shoving. And just when you thought that would be the peak? Marina Mabrey came charging in like it was WWE and shoved Clark to the ground. F

ans watching were already screaming, “She’s outta here!” But the refs took their sweet time reviewing it, and after all that, Mabrey wasn’t ejected. Instead, Mabrey, Clark, and Sun vet Tina Charles all got hit with techs. Sheldon’s eye-poke foul was upgraded to a Flagrant 1.  But no ejection for Mabrey had people – and the broadcast booth – shaking their heads. Coach Stephanie White also didn’t shy away from calling it out in the post-game press conference, as she said that she saw it coming and is tired of this officiating issue all season long. 

It started back in May, after a tight 90‑88 loss to the Liberty. Clark appeared to be fouled on the final play, but no whistle was blown. White called the no‑call “egregious,” spoke of “disrespect” towards her team, and flagged a major free‑throw disparity. A few days later, in another contest, White again blasted officiating, calling out the lack of control and doubts about the league’s replay/review system. The story was the same again.

Despite it all, Fever took the 88-71 dub in the most fiery game of the season and made it to the Commissioner’s Cup Finals.

Fever make franchise history as Caitlin Clark leads them to first-ever Commissioner’s Cup final

Just a month in and the intensity has already hit a ‘fever’ pitch. The Indiana Fever are officially headed to the 2025 Commissioner’s Cup final for the first time in franchise history. In what felt like a defining win of the season so far, the Fever knocked off the Connecticut Sun. Clark, back in action and clearly in rhythm, dropped 20 points and added six assists to help seal the deal. But this wasn’t just a revenge win against a physical Connecticut team; it was the final piece in the puzzle that secured Indiana’s top spot in the Eastern Conference Commissioner’s Cup standings.

On the other side, the Minnesota Lynx are headed back to defend their title. The reigning Commissioner’s Cup champs earned their ticket after shutting down the A’ja Wilson-less Las Vegas Aces with a commanding 76-62 win. That means we’ve got an East vs. West showdown set for Tuesday, July 1, with the Lynx ready to defend their crown and the Fever looking to make history again.

Also, it comes with hard cash. Moreover, this year, there’s an added bonus: Coinbase, the Cup’s official sponsor, threw in an extra $120,000 in crypto to the already juicy $500,000 prize pool. So there’s a lot on the line. For Indiana, this is a milestone. For Caitlin Clark, it’s another moment where she proves her presence changes the trajectory of a team she’s on. July 1 can’t come soon enough.