During a critical Game 3 matchup against the Aces, Fever guard Caitlin Clark made it clear to the referee that she was injured after taking an elbow to the face, which resulted in a bleeding mouth and no foul being called.
With just three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and her team down by five, Clark was elbowed by Aces guard Jewell Loyd while battling for a rebound. She quickly covered her mouth and required medical attention on the sidelines.
As she headed back to the locker room, she pointed upwards, seemingly signaling for a review of the incident. Upon her return to the game, she confronted a referee, emphatically indicating her bloody mouth while contesting the lack of a foul call.
Fever head coach Stephanie White was visibly upset and called a timeout following Clark’s injury.
One broadcaster commented, “Steph White calls time because the play would not have been stopped otherwise. And White is not happy that the officials missed something.”
Ultimately, the Fever’s season ended with a 94-83 loss to the defending champion Aces, leading White to reflect on the significant disparity in free throws awarded. “It’s a game of the margins,” she noted, highlighting that the Aces had 35 attempts while her team had just 20.
Clark, the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year, recorded 11 points in the first quarter but managed only seven more throughout the rest of the game.
This marks the second consecutive year that the Aces have eliminated the Fever; last year they faced off in the semifinals.
The Aces will now prepare to face the winner of the Golden State-Dallas series, with the decisive Game 3 set to take place in San Francisco on Friday.
