Caitlin Clark had an unconventional reaction when she received a technical foul.
Indiana Fever star and front-runner for WNBA Rookie of the Year I wanted to thank the judges. Who gave her the skills in the first place? There may or may not have been some irony in that.
It was Clark’s fifth technical foul of the year, and a seventh carries an automatic one-game suspension.
Originally from Iowa Hit the pillar She spoke about the technical foul she received in anger after missing a 3-pointer with 7:14 left in the third quarter, after the Fever beat the Seattle Storm 92-75 on Sunday afternoon and set a new WNBA rookie record for assists.
“I missed a 3-pointer, I was mad at myself, I got a technical foul, and I hit the backboard. And he told me that was disrespectful to the game of basketball.” Clark says“… It reminded me of the technical fouls I got in college. I was like, ‘Damn it.’ It was just a personal frustration. It had nothing to do with my team, the referee or the other team. It’s just me being a competitor.”
Clark added that the technical foul prompted him to play with more intensity once play resumed.
“But I think he motivated me to keep playing harder and harder,” she added. “I think the team was a lot better after that, so I want to thank him for that. But overall, I felt like we all kind of took a breather when we got the media timeout about five minutes into the third quarter. It was chaos for two and a half minutes.”
Clark continued, “I think I could have been more calm, but it’s just that passion that drives me and I just have to find a way to channel it and use it. I thought we did a really good job of that at the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth quarter.”
Clark finished with 23 points and nine assists, but he made just 3 of 10 3-pointers and committed five turnovers, which contributed to a frustrating first half.
The nine assists gave Clarke a season assist total of 232, breaking the WNBA rookie record of 224 set by Sacramento Monarchs’ Ticha Penicheiro in 1998.
The Fever outshot the Storm 33-17 in the fourth quarter to secure the win, with Lexi Hull coming off the bench to score a career-high 22 points and make six 3-pointers, and Kelsey Mitchell exploding with 27 points, one point shy of her season best.
The three umpires on site were Roy Gharbeyan, Tyler Ricks and Jenna Rehnaud.
