Fever’s Stephanie White unleashes tirade after ‘cheap shots’ on Caitlin Clark

The Indiana Fever suffered a painful loss to the Phoenix Mercury, 111-109, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Wednesday, with Caitlin Clark forced to exit in the third quarter due to a back injury.

The Fever held a small lead at the start of the fourth quarter, but the Mercury refused to budge and eventually grabbed the driver’s seat, led by Kahleah Copper and Alyssa Thomas. Indiana had a chance to get the win, but Lexie Hull turned the ball over in their final possession with two seconds left.

Clark was a game-time decision due to her back injury, but she tried to play through it. She left with 5:15 remaining in the third quarter. She finished with 19 points, eight assists, and four turnovers in 20 minutes.

After the game, Fever coach Stephanie White unloaded on the officiating, claiming that Clark was pummeled by the Mercury, including when Thomas put her fist into the star guard’s throat in the second quarter.

“It was egregious, the fact that it was a no-call. I heard about it at halftime. I brought it to the attention of the officials. You gotta call it. It’s absolutely egregious and utterly disrespectful,” said White in the postgame conference, as quoted by the Indianapolis Star’s Chloe Peterson.

“I mean, a fist in the throat is crazy. It’s crazy. It’s dangerous.”

White was far from done, reiterating that the 24-year-old Clark did not get a fair whistle.

“We have a generational talent and a WNBA superstar who had two cheap shots right there that weren’t called. Again, absolutely unacceptable,” added White, as quoted by the Indianapolis Star’s Brian Haenchen.

The Mercury were 26-of-33 from the free-throw line, with Copper going 15-for-16. The Fever, on the other hand, went 18-of-19 from the charity stripe. Indiana and Phoenix were called for 29 fouls and 19 fouls, respectively.

The Mercury avenged their loss to the Fever in their tension-filled affair on Monday.

The Fever fell to 10-8, while the Mercury improved to 6-13.

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