Caitlin Clark wasn’t having it.
During the Fever’s 88-75 loss to the Valkyries on Wednesday night in Indianapolis, Clark was seen screaming at a referee after the officials failed to call a foul on Valkyries center Kiah Stokes in the second quarter.
As Clark was driving to the basket for a layup, Stokes bumped her to the ground, but no foul was called.
After making the layup and falling to the ground, Clark hobbled up the court and was visibly in pain.
On the other end, the referees called Fever center Aliyah Boston for a questionable foul, prompting Clark to scream at referee Gerda Gatling in a tense moment.
Clark then left for a medical check and didn’t return until the second half of the 13-point loss.
She finished the game with 13 points, shooting just 4-for-14 from the field and also committed four turnovers.
After the game, Clark revealed she suffered a “contusion” on the play she was frustrated about.
“The ref can’t miss that,” she told reporters after the game about the call she felt the refs missed. “And then I have to play with a contusion in my leg the rest of the game. It’s ridiculous.”
So far this season, Clark is averaging 20.1 points per game while shooting 42.7 percent from the field and 33.1 percent from downtown.
Wednesday was not the first time Clark has expressed frustration with referees this season.
After a game against the Mercury on June 22, Clark received a technical foul for clapping in response to a personal foul called on her.
Clark didn’t hold back after that game.
“It’s ridiculous,” Clark told reporters after the June 22 game. “I got a technical for clapping. We should all just go on the calendar now and pick a game that I’m going to be suspended for if I’m going to get technicals for clapping. If any technical should be taken away, it should be that one. I don’t understand it at all.”
Days later, she was at the center of a still-talked-about moment in which the Mercury’s Alyssa Thomas’s first hit Clark’s throat while the two battled for a loose ball on the floor. Thomas, not called for a foul at the time, was retroactively given a flagrant 2 and a one-game suspension. Sports Business Journal reported this week that NBA commissioner Adam Silver implored WNBA counterpart Cathy Engelbert to suspend Thomas.
The WNBA called the report “absolutely false.”
After the Fever’s loss Wednesday night, they are now 14-10 and sixth in the league.
