Caitlin Clark Had Blunt Answer on ‘Surprising’ Fouls Called in Fever’s Loss to Aces

Kristen Wong | Sep 12, 2024

Caitlin Clark #22 of the Indiana Fever dribbles the ball while being guarded by Sydney Colson #51 of the Las Vegas Aces in the first quarter at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on September 11, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. / Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images

The Indiana Fever-Las Vegas Aces game on Wednesday ended up being historic for a player not named Caitlin Clark. 

MVP frontrunner A’ja Wilson set the WNBA's single-season scoring record as the Aces secured a 86-75 victory over Indiana at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Fever rookie Caitlin Clark, on the other hand, had a rough shooting night in part due to the game’s physicality. Clark found herself often fighting through contact to get her shots up all night and wasn’t pleased with some of the calls that went against her team.

The 22-year-old guard vented her frustrations in a postgame press conference, taking a slight dig at the officiating for the amount of offensive fouls she picked up during the game.

“Honestly [the Aces players] are all really good defenders, they’re physical, they’re strong,” Clark said. “The offensive fouls are definitely surprising at times. I feel like I do get held and get quite a bit of contact throughout the game. And then you get hit with some of those when you take some contact and give contact back. It is what it is. I don't know, like apparently they see something different.

“And then we have to use our challenge to try to not let AB have a fifth foul in the third quarter that basically takes her out of the game, we lose a challenge, we lose a timeout, so that’s tough as well. But I mean, they’re going to be physical, they’re going to do it again, it worked.”

CC, on the physicality of Aces guards (and when refs call offensive fouls): “the offensive fouls are definitely surprising at times. I do feel like I get held and get quite a bit of contact throughout the game… it is what it is… I can use my quickness a little bit better.” pic.twitter.com/ztI1xiLqeC

— Matthew Byrne (@MatthewByrne1) September 12, 2024

Clark added that she hopes to use her “quickness” better to absorb more contact on plays and also noted she felt a bit tired in the game—to be expected, considering Indiana was coming off an overtime win against the Atlanta Dream over the weekend.

In Wednesday’s loss to the Aces, Clark went 6-for-22 from the field and 1-for-10 from the three-point line for 16 points, one of her less dazzling stat sheets from her dominant rookie season. It was an overall lackluster and disjointed performance for the Fever (19-18), who are trying to wrap up the No. 6 seed for the playoffs. 

Clark and the Fever will get another chance to take down the back-to-back WNBA defending champions on Friday.  

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