Fever's White: 'Everybody's getting better, except the officials'

Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White issued a strong rebuke of the officiating after her team defeated the Connecticut Sun 88-71 in a heated affair that featured three separate skirmishes.

"(The referee's) job is hard. The game has changed so much. Players are faster. They're better, they're bigger, they're stronger," White said, per team reporter Chloe Peterson. "They're as good as they've ever been. They're as athletic as they've ever been. The game is fast now. Things are happening quickly.

"Everybody's getting better, except the officials, so we gotta find a way to remedy it. I mean, we've heard every coach talk about it. I don't know what the answer is."

A second-quarter scuffle between Caitlin Clark and Jacy Sheldon ignited the hostility, which then escalated in the third quarter when Sheldon caught Clark with a poke to the eye. Sun guard Marina Mabrey intervened to defend Sheldon and knocked Clark to the ground.

Sheldon was issued a flagrant-1 foul, while Clark, Mabrey, and Connecticut's Tina Charles were given technicals.

"I think it was pretty obvious that stuff was brewing," White said. "When the officials don't get control of the ball game, when they allow that stuff to happen, and it's been happening all season long ... this is what happens. You've got competitive women, who are the best in the world at what they do, and when you allow them to play physical, and you allow these things to happen, they're going to compete. And they're gonna have their teammates' back."

Things boiled over in the final minute of the game, when Sophie Cunningham hit Sheldon with a hard foul, leading to the two jostling by the baseline seats.

Cunningham, Sheldon, and the Sun's Lindsay Allen were ejected for their roles in the fight.

Clark finished with a team-best 20 points to help Indiana book a spot in the Commissioner's Cup final.