The league has spoken — and the fallout is bigger than anyone expected. Suspensions, fines, and one unexpected name at the center of it all. The WNBA just drew a line in the sand, and not everyone’s walking away clean.
The WNBA has revealed the fate of the players caught up in the melee during the Indiana Fever’s feisty clash against the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday night.
Fouls flew around the court at Gainbridge Fieldhouse as multiple brawls, sparked by attacks on Fever superstar Caitlin Clark, broke out leading to the ejections of players from both sides.
Yet, despite the shocking scenes, the league announced Wednesday that no players will face suspensions for their part in the scuffles, according to ESPN’s Alexa Philippou.
Clark was at the center of the shocking bust-ups after she was jabbed in the eye by Connecticut’s Jacy Sheldon before being pushed over by Marina Mabrey.
When the Indiana superstar reacted angrily to being struck by Sheldon, the latter’s teammate raced over and slammed her to the floor in a violent moment which sparked outrage online.
Somehow she avoided an ejection from the game despite the shove being unprovoked, much to the dismay of WNBA fans.
Caitlin Clark shoved to floor after Fever star exploded on rival
No player will face suspensions for the brawls in the Sun-Fever game, the WNBA confirmed
Clark’s enforcer Sophie Cunningham (second from left) also got involved in the melee
Mabrey was, however, handed a technical foul for the forceful bump, which has since been upgraded to a flagrant 2, which would have brought an ejection had it been dished out on the night.
Clark and Mabrey’s Sun teammate Tina Charles were also handed technical fouls, while Sheldon was slapped with a flagrant 1.
Meanwhile, Clark’s teammate and friend Sophie Cunningham was assessed with a flagrant foul and immediately ejected from the heated contest late in the game.
With 46.1 seconds remaining in the game, Cunningham committed a blatant and hard foul of her own as Sheldon came away with a steal.
In retaliation, the Fever enforcer wrapped her arms around the Sun guard’s head and pulling her to the ground in an act of revenge after her foul on Clark.
Another larger scuffle then ensued, with Connecticut’s Lindsay Allen running over to defend her teammate and Sheldon popping straight up to shove the Fever player.
Tensions took a while to die down and at the end of it, Cunningham, Sheldon, and Allen were all ejected.
In addition to the standard fine that comes with earning a flagrant 2, Cunningham has also received a subsequent fine.
Fever enforcer Cunningham enacted revenge for the push on Clark late in the game
However, despite their ejections and escalated fouls, no player will face suspensions, the WNBA confirmed Wednesday.
In the immediate aftermath of Tuesday’s game, official Ashley Gloss explained in the pool report that the contact made by Mabrey on Clark did not rise to the level of ejection or meet the criteria for a flagrant 2.
However, on Wednesday, the league admitted that the call was wrong and that Mabrey should have also faced ejection.
Following the bust-ups, both Fever and Sun staff were critical of the officiating with Indiana head coach Stephanie White claiming that ‘everybody [in the league] is 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.’
White will also not face fines for her comments, according to ESPN’s report.
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