- A no-call on the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark sends team to 90-88 loss to New York
- Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White on the officiating: Egregious. Disrespect. Disappointing. Obvious.
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Fever had one final chance.
The Fever were down two points, 90-88, with 2.6 seconds left against the reigning champion New York Liberty. They had the ball at halfcourt, a play in mind to force a tie — or even a win.
Sophie Cunningham stood on the sideline, looking through the defense to find Fever star Caitlin Clark, who was being guarded by the Liberty’s Natasha Cloud. Cunningham swung the ball to Clark, who started to drive toward the basket from behind the 3-point line.
Then, Cloud poked her hand in between Clark’s arm and chest, tugging the ball from her grasp.
It could’ve been a foul, depending on how you see it. But the refs didn’t see it as such, and Liberty forward Breanna Stewart grabbed the ball as the final buzzer sounded. Clark and her teammates were irate, calling for a foul on Cloud. Boos rained down from the Fever fanbase as Clark followed the referees, trying to plead her case.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
But it was no use. The officials stood by their call, and the Fever lost, 90-88, to move to 2-2 on the season.
“I haven’t watched it yet, but you know, we used our reset timeout, ran a similar play to what we did the other night when we played Atlanta here,” Clark said. “I don’t know. I have to go back and watch.”
Fever coach Steph White, though, immediately knew what she saw.
“I thought she got fouled,” White said. “I think it’s pretty egregious what’s been happening to us these last few games. A minus-31 free throw discrepancy — I might be able to understand that if we’re chucking 3s, but we’re not. We’re attacking the rim. The disrespect right now for our team has been pretty unbelievable. It’s disappointing that it doesn’t go both ways, but we can’t allow that to consume us.”
That last play was just the final straw in what White thought was a litany of incorrect calls in the final minute of the Fever’s loss to the Liberty, and over the Fever’s last few games. New York took 32 shots from the line on Saturday, compared to Indiana’s 15; Atlanta took 23 free-throws to Indiana’s 15 on Thursday; and Atlanta took 32 shots compared to Indiana’s 26 last Tuesday.
Saturday, specifically, was a hotly contested game; Indiana was up by 12 points at one point in the fourth, but New York went on a 16-2 run to take the lead after an Indiana timeout in an attempt to stop the bleeding. After that, the Fever and Liberty essentially went shot-for-shot.
Tied at 88-88 with 36 seconds left, White took her final timeout to attempt to set up a shot for Clark to take the lead. Clark attempted a 3-pointer, which bounced off the rim. Indiana center Aliyah Boston then forced a jump ball against Stewart, which the Fever won, and the Fever’s DeWanna Bonner went up for a layup.
Indiana Fever score: Title-hopeful Fever blow 4th quarter lead to reigning WNBA champion Liberty
The ball jammed against the backboard as she was blocked by Cloud. That was another questionable call — or questionable non-call — as Cloud’s arm extended through to Bonner’s face.
Either way, the refs didn’t call a foul, and the Liberty took possession in a tied game.
On the other end of the floor, Fever guard Lexie Hull fouled the Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu — a call that White clearly disagreed with, voicing her displeasure to the referees. But, after she took that final timeout, she couldn’t challenge the call. WNBA rules stipulate that teams need a full timeout (not just a reset timeout) in order to initiate a challenge.
Ionescu drained both free throws, giving the Liberty that two-point win.
“I thought it was egregious, honestly. I mean, I thought it was obvious,” White said. “You know, I felt like (Boston) got (fouled), had one going to the rim. (Bonner’s non-call) was crazy. And in Lexie’s, I felt like, equally, you know, we talked about coming into the path. And it was an offensive player, varying into the defensive player’s path. So, I mean, it is what it is. We have to be able to play through it. But at the same time, I feel like it’s really disrespectful.”
It wasn’t all about the calls, either, and the game shouldn’t have to come down to arguing a questionable call. The Fever were up double-digits in the fourth and let New York play its way back into it on a 16-2 run over a four-minute period.
Yes, the Fever did make some mistakes that led to the game being decided in those final 36 seconds. Still, a loss that’s hard to swallow, especially for an up-and-coming team that was on the cusp of knocking off the reigning champions early in the season.
“When it comes to accepting (the calls), it’s like we don’t really have a choice, because they’re going to call what they want to call,” Boston said. “So for us, I mean, even for me, I missed some of those easy buckets around the rim. I think for me, I have to put them in the rim just post hoc, and we just have to finish through contact. If we don’t get it, we don’t get it, but we have to give ourselves the best opportunity to get that basket.”
The WNBA has a system, similar to that of the NBA, where coaches are able to submit plays to the league asking for clarification. It’s a system that exists in an attempt to bring clarity to coaches and officials, but White isn’t so sure of how effective it is.
“We can send stuff in and communicate our grievances, so to speak, but I don’t know that I ever feel like the system works,” White said. “We’re not looking for a change. We’re just looking for consistency. You know, I felt like the second half of Atlanta, at least at our place (on Tuesday), was at least consistent, right, and that’s that’s the thing that we’re looking for.”
(This story was updated to add videos.)
