Caitlin Clark and Stephanie White exchange breakdown
USAT’s Meghan Hall breaks down the recent exchange between Fever star Caitlin Clark and HC Stephanie White during their loss against the Portland Fire.
Sports Seriously
The Indiana Fever insist that Caitlin Clark isn’t injured, but she might be sick.
Clark had to leave the floor to throw up during Thursday’s WNBA Commissioner’s Cup matchup with the Atlanta Dream on Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
“You might need some hand sanitizer,” she said after shaking hands with Prime Video sideline reporter Kayla Grey at the end of her postgame interview.
Clark had 17 points, eights assists, seven rebounds and one block in the Fever’s 83-73 victory over the Dream. She also had arguably her best defensive performance of the season. Clark told reporters postgame she had some applesauce at halftime and it came up along with, “everything else in my stomach.”
“I had to throw up … but you just keep playing,” Clark told reporters. “I love this game and I’m competitive and I was going to do anything I could to help this team win, and I thought we played a really, really good game and we probably could have even made a few more baskets, but we guarded.
“We guarded really, really well. And if we’re able to do that the rest of the year, we’re going to be in a really good position to be successful.”
The 24-year-old was warming up before the start of the second half when she paused to get sick.
“I have no idea what that was, but yeah, I mean she was gassed,” Fever coach Stephanie White said. “She was playing both ends and she was doing a great job and was running the team. And you know when you lay it on the line, you get gassed. I don’t know what the issue was with the vomiting, but we’ll see.”
Clark was listed as probable for Thursday’s game due to her ongoing back issues. Fever head coach Stephanie White said the injury report designation would likely be the norm for the rest of this season after the team caught the WNBA’s attention by ruling Clark out at the last minute last month.
In her pregame news conference, Clark didn’t say she was feeling sick. She conveyed the opposite, emphasizing that she’s been feeling fantastic despite the backlash from a viral clip that captured her arguing with White midgame and subsequently getting benched for rookie Raven Johnson last week.
“I’m doing great. Like, I played a lot of Catan this week, played a lot of Scrabble. I hung out with some friends last night, went to dinner and watched Game ! of the NBA Finals, which was pretty fun,” Clark said. “And then watched a lot of film, but (I’m) doing well and more than anything, excited to get back out there and play.”
