Firsts are special, right? Well, the Indiana Fever have pretty much made it their mission this season to hand them out, just not the kind anyone wants. The Liberty just got handed their first L of the season thanks to the Fever. The Connecticut Sun had their moment a while back when they grabbed their first win over a Caitlin Clark-less Indiana on May 30. But in the rematch? Indiana made sure not to let that slide.

Now, the game was a chaos. A fiery, physical 88-71 dub for the Fever but not without drama, controversy, and a whole lot of side-eye at the officials. And at the heart of the storm? Yes, you guessed it – Caitlin Clark. Things got testy pretty early between Clark and Sun guard Jacy Sheldon. In the first half, they exchanged words after some aggressive defense. No big consequences there. 

But then came the third quarter, and everything blew up. Clark was driving into the paint when Sheldon, guarding her tightly, poked her right in the eye. Clark clearly wasn’t having it. Frustrated, she fired back with more words. A light shoving match followed, and then, out of nowhere, Sun forward Marina Mabrey came charging in and shoved Clark to the floor. 

Everyone expected an ejection. But after a long review, Mabrey wasn’t tossed. Instead, she got a tech. So did Clark. So did Tina Charles. The original eye-poke got bumped up to a flagrant 1, but that was it. The decision left fans and broadcasters stunned. And honestly, it left Fever head coach Stephanie White heated. 

So much so that when reporters brought up the officiating postgame, she didn’t wait for anyone to answer…she grabbed the mic herself and let it fly. “There wasn’t an explanation for the tech that she got,” she said. “You know I think it was pretty obvious that stuff was brewing, right? 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 all really started back in May, during that nail-biting 90–88 loss to the Liberty. In the final minute, CC took contact from Natasha Cloud, as HC and Fever faithful claimed, but no whistle came.  White called the missed call “pretty egregious” and didn’t stop there. She blasted what she described as the “disrespect” her team was receiving and pointed to a troubling pattern: a -31 free-throw disparity across a stretch of games.

For White, it was about consistency. And just days later, it happened again. Another tight contest, and the coach once again stepped up, this time calling out not only the lack of control by referees but also raising serious concerns about the league’s replay and review system. It was the same story again. Hence, her frustration poured out in real time. “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. It’s exactly what you expect out of fierce competition.”

She even admitted she saw this coming from the jump. “So I started talking to the officials in the first quarter, and we knew this was going to happen. You could tell it was going to happen. So they got to get control of it. They got to be better. They got to be better.” So, the Fever may have walked out with the win, but with calls like that, the questions aren’t dying down anytime soon.

For now, they head tothe  Commissioner’s Cup for the very first time, and CC looks pretty excited about it. 

Caitlin Clark reacts to first Commissioner’s Cup trophy chance

The Commissioner’s Cup is a special in-season competition in the WNBA. Throughout the first half of the season, certain games count toward the Cup standings. The top team from each conference in those games gets to play in the Commissioner’s Cup Championship. There’s a big prize involved, too – a $500,000 pool for the players, plus an extra bonus in cryptocurrency from Coinbase. 

Each player in the championship game gets $5,000 just for making it there, with even more money up for grabs depending on the result. While we were expecting last year’s rematch – Liberty vs Lynx – this year, it’s Indiana’s turn to shake things up.  The Indiana Fever improved their record to 6-5 on the 2025 WNBA season on June 17, after a hard-fought victory that saw two intense moments.

This win had much more meaning than just any other regular-season contest for Indiana. Since they won and the New York Liberty beat the Atlanta Dream on Tuesday, it meant that the Fever will play in the Commissioner’s Cup Championship Game. They’re facing off against the Lynx, who topped the Western Conference. Although the Commissioner’s Cup Championship game doesn’t count toward a team’s regular season record, it’s still a big boost – financially, competitively, and emotionally.

Star guard spoke to the media after the win and addressed getting to play for the Commissioner’s Cup Championship, which marks her first chance at winning a WNBA trophy. “Yeah, I mean obviously, we’re excited. That’s a big deal. And obviously New York helped us out a little bit to get there,” Clark said.

“And it’s a hard thing to do. And why wouldn’t we celebrate that?” she added. “We’re getting to play for a pool of money, that’s pretty fun. And you’re competing to win a trophy. It’s an extra game for us to get better.” Let’s see if they can actually pull it off. We seriously can’t wait for that July 1 game against the 11-1 Lynx.