In the middle of the NBA Finals, the best basketball action right now is in the W.

Caitlin Clark’s sophomore season is going much like her Rookie of the Year campaign — lots of points, controversy and some rough treatment from her opponents.

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Clark has been singled out since her debutCredit: Getty

Jacy Sheldon was a college rival of the Indiana superstarCredit: Getty
The WNBA phenom dropped 20 points as the Indiana Fever went 6-5 with a routine 88-71 victory over the 2-9 Connecticut Sun.

But despite being blown away by the third quarter on the road, the Sun were not going to go down without a fight.

During the third period, Clark was poked in the eye by Jacy Sheldon, who she had clashed with earlier in the game.

The fuming Fever sensation confronted her rival before Sun teammate Marina Mabrey came in and shoved Clark to the floor.

Sheldon’s original foul on Clark was upgraded to a flagrant, while technical fouls were also assessed to Clark, Mabrey, and Tina Charles, who tried to get in between.

Fans were quick to jump in and call out the refs for not protecting Clark, with Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy going in hard.

“Imagine not kicking Marina Mabrey out after she assaults the face of the league? Just a common tech? Sick league WNBA. Also shouldn’t have been a tech on Caitlin since that girl got in her face after gouging her eyes,” he wrote on X.

Clark is coming off an injury and losing the most high-profile athlete in women’s basketball again would not be good for the Fever — or league in general.

Portnoy later posted a video, calling out the WNBA and some of its stars for singling out the face of the league.

“It’s the refs, its the commissioner of the league, its some team owners, they are so f****** stupid and so bad at their jobs for understanding what they have in Caitlin Clark,” he began.

“The face of the league, ratings go down 50 percent when she’s not there. Everybody has to watch. It’s box office.

Clark ended up on the hardwood after a fightCredit: Getty

Sophie Cunningham is black belt and unofficial bodyguard for ClarkCredit: Getty
“She’s facing Jacy Sheldon, some long-time rival from Ohio State. This girl, can you say jock strap? Can’t hold her bra, can’t hold her underwear. She can’t hold Caitlin Clark’s jock strap. She’s not that good, but they hate each other.”

Portnoy was adamant Mabrey should have been called for an ‘obvious ejection’.

“Marina Mabrey, look in the mirror,” he added. “The reason you have any money before the end of your career is No. 22. Nobody even knew who you were or cared about you until she got in the league. So cheap shot her like that, what are you dumb?

“More importantly, the league, the refs, you’re gonna let people take cheap shots like that over and over and over at the face of your league?”

With the refs not protecting Clark to Portnoy or the Fever’s liking, Indiana took matters into their own hands.

Sophie Cunningham — a black belt in Taekwondo since she was six — took down Shelton, who was driving to the basket with her team down 17 late in the fourth.

That sparked another fight and both were ejected.

Sun head coach Rachid Meziane thought the Fever were to blame for the spiky game.

“When you are winning a game by 17 points and you doing this stupid foul, this is just disrespectful,” she said. “I don’t know how Jacy and Lindsay [got] rejected from the game when they did nothing.”

Meziane also defended Mabrey for her role in the earlier clash.

“She just tried to be between two players,” Meziane added. “The ref has to do their job to clean the game, and make sure that the best team won the game and not just who is more physical.”

Unsurprisingly, Fever coach Stephanie White saw things differently.

Caitlin Clark channels Shedeur Sanders by flexing $20,000 watch for eye-catching WNBA tunnel walk
“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. This is what happens.”

Everybody seemed to agree on one thing — the refs must do better.

Despite the public outcry, nothing is going to change on the court. Clark has a huge target on her back and it will get bigger with every W.

Things were HEATED between the Sun and Fever tonight 😳

-Caitlin Clark T’d up
-Marina Mabrey T’d up
-Jacy Sheldon assessed flagrant
-Sophie Cunningham ejected pic.twitter.com/CUnso6z4a9

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 18, 2025