WNBA fans are questioning exactly what qualifies ejection from a game after watching last night’s heated match between the Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun.
During the third quarter of Tuesday night’s game, Fever star Caitlin Clark had possession of the ball when she was poked in the eye by Sun player Jacy Sheldon.
The two shared a tense exchange following the play when the Sun’s center, Tina Charles, interjected in an attempt to calm both parties down. But then, Sun player Marina Mabrey knocked Clark — largely viewed as the face of the WNBA since she was chosen first overall during the 2024 draft — to the ground.
After the incident, Sheldon was given a flagrant one foul while Mabrey, Clark, and Charles all were given technical fouls.
Many viewers were quick to question why Mabrey was allowed to push someone to the ground but remain in the game.
“The Face of the league just got assaulted by 3 people and NOBODY got kicked out the game,” one person wrote on social media. “WNBA ratings were in the GUTTER when Caitlin Clark was out and they just gonna let her get hurt again lmaoo.”
“No one has dealt with more undeserved vitriol & cheap shots than Caitlin Clark…” another person wrote. “All of this is so unnecessary & stems from pure hatred and jealousy.”
“Giving Caitlin Clark a technical foul for getting hit in the face and shoved to the ground is insane,” a third tweet read. “Was going to say the WNBA needs better refs but NBA refs are just as terrible.”
One of the game’s officials, crew chief Ashley Gloss, told the Indianapolis Star that Mabrey’s actions didn’t warrant her being ejected from the game.
“The contact made by Mabrey did not rise to the level of an ejection,” Gloss told the publication. “Additionally, [it] did not meet the criteria for a flagrant foul penalty two.”
However, the fighting between the two teams continued during the last 47 seconds of the game when Sheldon attempted to make her way toward the hoop for a layup, when the Fever’s Sophie Cunningham grabbed Sheldon’s hair and pulled her down.
Cunningham was then ejected from the game and received a flagrant 2 foul. Sheldon and the Sun’s Lindsay Allen were also ejected from the game for fighting and being deemed “escalators” in the incident.
The Fever’s coach, Stephanie White, reflected on the game in a press conference, telling reporters, “Everybody’s getting better, except the officials.”
“I started talking to the officials in the first quarter, and we knew this was going to happen,” White said. “You could tell it was going to happen. So, they’ve got to get control of it. They’ve got to be better.”
Tuesday night’s game marked Clark’s second back on the court after a left quad strain kept her sidelined for five games. Prior to her break, she was averaging 19.0 points, 9.3 assists, and six rebounds in her sophomore WNBA season.
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