Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White says she is glad the WNBA reviewed and ultimately punished Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas for her hit on Caitlin Clark, but she wonders why a call wasn’t made in real time.
Thomas on Thursday was assessed a flagrant foul 2 penalty and a one-game suspension after the league, upon review, deemed she “committed a non-basketball act” against Clark by “recklessly making contact with her fist to the throat area” of the Fever star.
“I think the biggest thing for me is that we have to see it in real time,” White told reporters Friday. “I mean, yes, I’m thankful that the league went back and used their ability to go back and review it, but these are things that we can’t miss in real time. We’ve got to be better.”
The play happened in the Mercury’s 111-109 win over the Fever on Wednesday. In the second quarter, Clark drove to the lane and tumbled onto her side after making contact with defender Lexi Held. Held, Thomas and DeWanna Bonner collapsed onto Clark as they scrambled for the ball. As they tried to recover it, Thomas appeared to thrust her fist into Clark’s neck. She then got up and stepped over Clark.
No foul was called on the play.
“I was more surprised that it wasn’t seen by the officials in real time,” White sad. “I think the eye discipline, for lack of a better term, sometimes I feel like all the officials are watching the ball and nobody’s watching the play. You have a player that’s down on the ground, certainly some things are going to happen, so I was very disappointed they didn’t see that in real time.”
Clark eventually left Wednesday’s game in the third quarter and did not return due to a back issue. White said she didn’t know if it was the play with Thomas or another one that happened seconds later that led to Clark tweaking her back.
Clark on Friday was ruled out for Indiana’s game Saturday against the Los Angeles Sparks because of her back. Her next chance to return to the court is July 5 against the Las Vegas Aces, a stretch of nearly two weeks off for the two-time All-Star.
