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The Indiana Fever suffered their second loss of the young season in heartbreaking fashion on Saturday, and as is often the case with Fever matchups, the defeat came with a healthy dose of controversy.
This time, the controversy surrounded the officiating. The Fever found themselves on the unfortunate side of at least three calls to close out the game; the first was a no-call on DeWanna Bonner after Bonner seemed to play through some contact while trying to make a layup.
The second was a call on Lexie Hull on the other side of the floor for fouling Sabrina Ionescu. Ionescu would sink both her free throws to give the Liberty the late 90–88 lead in the fourth. And the third was a game-ending no-call on Caitlin Clark, who tried to get off her shot in time but was thwarted by Liberty’s Natasha Cloud who appeared to make some contact with Clark on her clutch steal.
Following the game’s chaotic finish, Fever coach Stephanie White didn’t hold back on what she thought of the inconsistent officiating.
“I thought [Clark] got fouled,” White said. “I think it’s pretty egregious what’s been happening to us the last few games… I might be able to understand it if we were just chucking threes, but we’re not. We’re attacking the rim. And the disrespect right now for our team has been pretty unbelievable. It’s disappointing that it doesn’t go both ways, or hasn’t gone both ways.”
White went on to say that her team had to play through the physicality and find a way to win tight ball games, but her comments on the officiating made clear how she felt about Saturday’s loss.
Fans on social media argued that Hull’s contest on Ionescu featured level of contract—if not less—as the Liberty’s defense on Bonner a play earlier, but one was called a foul while the other wasn’t.
The Fever are now 2–2 to start the year.
