Officials originally called a personal foul on Reese, but after a review they upgraded it to a Flagrant 1. Clark made two free throws and the Fever retained possession of the ball.
Reese strongly disagreed with the decision to upgrade the foul to a flagrant 1. She said the foul was a “basketball play” in which she was attempting to block Clark’s shot.
“Basketball play, I can’t control the refs. They affected the game, obviously, a lot tonight,” Reese told reporters after the game. ““I’m always going for the ball. But y’all are going to play that clip, what, 20 times before Monday?
Reese went on to imply the officials weren’t calling the same fouls on both ends of the court.
“I think we went up strong a lot of times and we didn’t get a lot of calls,” Reese said. “Going back and looking at the film, I saw a lot of calls that weren’t made. I guess some people got a special whistle.”
Clark agreed with Reese about the foul, saying she was making a play on the basketball by attempting to block her shot.
“What’s going through my mind is, ‘I need to make these two free throws.’ That’s all I’m thinking about,” Clark told reporters after the game. “It’s just part of basketball. It is what it is. You know, she’s trying to make a play on the ball and get the block. But, yeah, it happens.”
Clark finished with 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting along with eight rebounds, nine assists and two blocks as the Fever won their second consecutive game for the first time this season.
Reese scored 11 points, but she missed nine of 13 shots in the game. She did have a team-high 13 rebounds and five assists, but was saddled with foul trouble (she had five) throughout the game.
The last two teams to get a win this season face off for the second time this month as Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever welcome fellow 2024 first round pick Aaliyah Edwards and the Washington Mystics to Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Wednesday, June 19.
The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. EST and will be broadcast on NBA TV. Fans looking to watch this WNBA game can do so for free by using FuboTV and DirecTV Stream, which both offer a free trial or with SlingTV, which doesn’t offer a free trial but has promotional offers available.
The first contest was won by the Fever, 85-83, to drop Washington to 0-11. The Mystics took one more loss in a five-point game against the Connecticut Sun and have since rattled off consecutive victories to get to 2-12 on the season.
Indiana has looked better since its rough start to the season. While clark has continued to take rookie lumps throughout the season, she’s also shown flashes of brilliance, like going 7-for-11 for 23 points with nine assists and eight rebounds in the Fever’s last contest, a 91-83 victory over the Chicago Sky. But it is 2023 No. 1 pick Aliyah Boston who recently earned Player of the Week for the Eastern Conference and for the whole league, according to the Associated Press. Boston averaged 20 points, 13 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and two blocks from June 10-16 while the Fever went 2-1 to climb to 5-10.
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