Stephanie White calls out WNBA officiating for losing control, physicality against Caitlin Clark vs. Sun

Tempers were high on Tuesday night as the Indiana Fever and Connecticut Sun faced off. Sophie Cunningham was ejected from the game for retaliating against Jacy Sheldon after a previous dustup with Caitlin Clark. Emotions bubbled over and officials felt as if a move needed to be made.

Following the game, Fever head coach Stephanie White was not too happy. She called out WNBA officials during his postgame press conference, not just the ones in the Fever-Sun game. White believes this has been an issue all season regarding Clark.

“There wasn’t an explanation for the tech that she got,” White said. ” It think it was pretty obvious that stuff was brewing. When the officials don’t get control of the ball game, when they don’t allow that stuff to happen — it’s been happening all season long. All season long. It’s not just this game, it’s all season long. This is what happens, right? This is what happens. You’ve got competitive women who are the best in the world at what they do. When you allow them to play physical and you allow these things to happen, they’re going to compete and they’re going to have their teammates’ backs. It’s exactly what you expect out of fierce competition.

“I started talking to the officials in the first quarter and we knew this was going to happen. You can tell it was going to happen. So, they’ve got to get control of it, they’ve got to be better. They’ve got to be better.”

During the third quarter, Clark was poked in the eye. Shortly after, she was bumped by Sheldon before receiving a shoulder from Marina Mabrey, and going to the ground. Everyone involved in the situation was assessed a technical foul, something White was not too thrilled with. Sheldon was hit with a Flagrant 1 foul as well.

Officiating in games with Indiana will now be a storyline to watch moving forward. Thursday is the next time the Fever will be back on the court, going up against the Golden State Valkyries. It’s the beginning of a three-game road trip — also going to Las Vegas and Seattle. Clark and how she is officiated will receive a ton of attention around the league.

As for when we will see Indiana-Connecticut again, it’s going to be a while. Nearly a month separates us from now and the next matchup, scheduled for July 15. They will be in the Northeast this go-round, likely producing an incredible atmosphere.