Caitlin Clark clapped back after she claimed her clapping got her into her trouble.
The Fever star blasted the referees Monday night, with Gerda Gatling being singled out, after claiming she received a technical for clapping after a heated confrontation with ex-teammate DeWanna Bonner.
Clark now has five technical fouls this season, three short of receiving a one-game suspension.
“Yeah, it’s ridiculous,” Clark said after the 86-77 home win. “I got a technical for clapping.
“We should all just go on the calendar now and pick a game that I’m going to be suspended for if I’m going to get technicals for clapping.”
Clark added that she pressed Gatling for details about why she received the technical foul and the referee told her it stemmed from clapping and instgiatng.
“I said, ‘OK, then you just don’t love competitive basketball and that’s just facts, that’s just reality,’” Clark said. “So, disappointing from them.”
Clark’s emotions can sometimes get the best of her on the court, and it appears that her reaction to her tussle with her ex-teammate did her in this time.
With the Fever leading by 19 with a little less than eight minutes left in the game, Bonner and Clark became entangled and the latter received a foul.
Bonner, who played nine games for the Fever last season, turned her back to Clark and walked away from her, but the Fever star kept after her.
As teammates gathered around, Clark waved her hands to get the crowd involved.
Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas and Indiana’s Myisha Hines-Allen then began jawing with one another, and that’s when Clark clapped animatedly in their presence.
Thomas, Hines-Allen and Clark all received technical fouls.
“If any technical should be taken away, it should be that one — if it’s truly for clapping, that’s what they said they gave it to me for,” she said. “It’s just ridiculous. I don’t understand it all.”
Bonner requested a trade last season away from the Fever after stepping away from the team for what was called “personal reasons.”
After being released by the Fever, Bonner said she “felt the fit did not work out.”
Clark is now inching closer to receiving a one-game suspension — especially since she’s been assessed five technical fouls in 16 games — but said she’s not going to change her style.
“I’m going to play with emotion, I’m going to play with passion and if they’re going to give me a technical foul for clapping, then so be it. That’s their choice,” Clark said. “The league can come back and review that play and I’d love to hear what they say, the reasoning of why I got the technical foul in that situation and why other players on their team didn’t get a technical foul in that situation. If anything, split it. OK, everybody gets a technical foul, that wasn’t how they were handed out. I would love to know.”
While Clark was defiant after her 24-point showing, her coach, Stephanie White, said the third-year player can do more to avoid putting herself in such spots.
“She’s gotta be aware, certainly. I think there are some that we can do without,” White said after the Fever improved to 10-7. “There are natural things that happen that the energy of the game creates when you do get those, but there are some we can be a little bit more in control.
“So, yes, we’ll continue to reminder her and I think she has to have an awareness.”