The WNBA has one star player: Caitlin Clark. And Clark’s coach is finally speaking out and slamming the league’s referees for refusing to call fouls against Clark and creating an open season for other players to physically harm her as often as they want with no repercussions.
Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White is speaking out after Clark was once again brutalized on the court on Wednesday when she received a fist to the neck and a knee to the groin in her team’s 111-109 loss to the Phoenix Mercury at the Fever’s Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Clark was fouled twice that night, the second time prompting her to exit the game with a back injury, the Indianapolis Star reported.
The first occurred early in the game when Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas kneed Clark in the groin several times while Clark was on the ground, even when Clark had already passed the ball off to her teammates, and there was no play near Clark and Thomas. To make matters worse, Thomas then jammed her fist into Clark’s neck as she got up from the floor. Then she kicked at Clark’s legs as she got up and stepped over the Fever star.
Officials did not call any fouls over the incident with Thomas.
WATCH:
Not long after that, Clark was fouled again, leaving her with a tweaked back and forcing her to exit the game for the night.
The second incident occurred in the third quarter when Mercury forward Valeriane Ayayi fouled her on a 3-point attempt. Clark came down on Ayayi’s foot and fell to the floor. When she got up, it was clear she had injured her back. She then left the game, not to return that night.
Coach White slammed the officials for ignoring the physical abuse Clark took that night.
“I’m not sure if it had any impact on her health or not, but it was egregious, the fact that it was a no-call,” White said after the game. “I heard about it at halftime, I brought it to the attention of the officials at halftime … absolutely unacceptable. And the reckless closeout that they actually review, and the foot still comes down on top of the defender’s foot, that was an upgrade. Absolutely disrespectful. We have a generational talent and a WNBA superstar who had two cheap shots right there that weren’t called, and again, absolutely unacceptable.”
White was particularly irked by Thomas and her fist to Clark’s throat.
“The fist in the throat is crazy. It’s crazy. It’s dangerous,” White said. “… When you have these things continue to happen time and time and time again, eventually it gets frustrating, but I thought those were just more egregious.”
Fans were just as outraged by the refs’ total failure.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: Facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston, or at X/Twitter @WTHuston