5 hours ago
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Amidst the aftermath of the brutal fouls committed by both teams in Tuesday night's Indiana Fever-Connecticut Sun game, fans believe that they have uncovered another 'foul' that Caitlin Clark was on the receiving end of.
In the third quarter of the game, Clark was driving to the lane when she took an unlucky foul from Sun guard Jacy Sheldon as she made a wild attempt to poke the ball free, inadvertently poking Clark in the eye.
As the two teams came together, with Clark falling to the ground off what appeared to be a push from Connecticut's Marina Mabrey, Fever guard Lexie Hull ran over and got in the face of Sheldon.
The two got into a brief, but heated, exchange of words in that moment before being separated. Clark and Sun center Tina Charles were assessed double technical fouls while Mabrey also got a technical.
Later in the game, with Sheldon coming away with the steal in the final minute, Fever guard Sophie Cunningham committed a blatant and hard foul of her own - wrapping her arms around Sheldon's head and pulling her by her neck to the ground.
Another larger scuffle ensued, with Connecticut's Lindsay Allen running over to defend her teammate and Sheldon popping straight up to shove Cunningham. Tensions took a while to die down and at the end of it, Cunningham, Sheldon, and Allen were all ejected.
Tuesday's brutal game between the Indiana Fever and Connecticut Sun saw multiple fouls after Sun guard Jacy Sheldon (4, right) inadvertently poked Caitlin Clark (second left) in the eye
Sheldon was then fouled hard by Sophie Cunningham (facing camera) late in the game
Now, fans believe Sheldon should've been called for a foul on this play for 'digging her nails'
The day after the game, the WNBA announced that they would be fining both Mabrey and Cunningham - with Mabrey's initial technical foul upgraded to a flagrant 2.
But in the aftermath of those fines, some social media detectives believe they uncovered evidence of Sheldon digging her nails into Clark's arm while playing defense.
A close up image shows Sheldon's left hand on Clark's right arm with her fingers appearing to be curled.
While some believe this is evidence of the Ohio State product trying to hurt Clark there isn't any expression of pain on the Fever guard's face.
Moreover, on a wider shot, it shows that Sheldon's hand was on Clark as she anticipated a pick-and-roll.
In reality, keeping an arm on a player with the ball is incredibly common in on-ball defense in the WNBA and the NBA and this likely wouldn't be called a foul by any referees.
Regardless, Fever fans called for Sheldon to receive some sort of punishment for these actions.
'This is how Jacy of the @ConnecticutSun plays. Jacy digging her fingernails into Caitlin Clark's arm. And Marina Mabrey should have been ejected. @WNBA,' wrote one user on X.
Another remarked, 'Jacy is always digging her nails!!!' while tagging WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
The Sun and Fever next meet on July 15 at TD Garden in Boston.
