It was not a good day to be Caitlin Clark. As the Indiana Fever took it down to the court against the Connecticut Sun, aggression reigned supreme—mostly directed, as expected, toward the league’s most popular player. The major talking point, though, came in the third quarter when Sun guard Jacy Sheldon appeared to poke Clark in the eye, who immediately left the ball and clutched her eye instead. Clark then turned back toward Sheldon only to be shoved again, before pushing the opponent away.

Connecticut’s Marina Mabrey joined the scuffle too, albeit fiercely. Bumping Clark to the ground, the altercation was already at a fever pitch if not for the referee’s intervention. Surprisingly, Mabrey wasn’t ejected and only received a technical foul along with Clark. Sheldon, on the other hand, was given a flagrant 1 penalty (a free throw and the ball back for Indiana), while Sun’s Tina Charles was assessed a technical foul for rushing toward the Fever star during the physical showdown. Stephanie White was visibly furious, and it was not long before her anger boiled over.

It all came out in the post-game press conference, where the coach didn’t even wait for questions. “There wasn’t an explanation for the tech that she got…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, it’s not just this game,” she commented. As for the Sophie Cunningham debacle, while the HC held on the same kind of outburst, her opinions were made clear nonetheless.

“I view it as a flagrant foul,” she simply said, referring to Cunningham’s ejection after the latter’s revenge attempt. With 46 seconds left and the Fever up 17, Jacy Sheldon was attempting a layup when Cunningham grabbed her head and pulled her to the ground, resulting in a physical altercation between the duo and Sun guard Lindsay Allen. At one point, Cunningham reportedly pulled Sheldon’s hair, and was ejected after being handed a flagrant 2 (an additional fine was also levied). Sheldon and Allen were assessed technical and ejected as well.

That was a strategic response, especially considering that Sophie’s move appeared calculated—a way to teach the opponent a lesson, as suggested by Rachael DeAmita: “Yes, it was intentional. It was absolutely intentional. It was, for me, a payback for what was happening the entire game.”

As for Mabrey’s technical foul, it was later upgraded to a flagrant 2, as per IndyStar.

How did Caitlin Clark stand up for HC’s rescue as concerns piled up for Sophie’s play?

When reporters kept pressing Head Coach Stephanie White about Sophie’s Flagrant 1 foul, CC stepped in to shift the narrative. “Yeah, well, I mean, you guys came to talk about basketball. Let’s talk about basketball. Come on now… We’re going to the Commissioner’s Cup Championship. Y’all want to talk about that? Let’s talk about that,” she said. And just like that, she redirected the spotlight for all the right reasons.

No doubt, it’s a huge achievement for a team like the Indiana Fever, who were eliminated by the Connecticut Sun in the first round of last year’s playoffs. But this season, the team is making sure to take control of the league early, with some already predicting them to be strong playoff contenders.

And when you look at their latest win against the New York Liberty—snapping their opponents’ undefeated 9-0 streak—it’s easy to see why Clark is so excited. “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,” she added.

That win didn’t just bring pride, it also secured the Fever a spot in the Commissioner’s Cup Championship, where the players will have a shot at a $500,000 prize. But it won’t be so easy as they’ll be taking up court against the Minnesota Lynx on July 1. Are you excited?