Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark leapt to her coach’s defense on Tuesday night as the team battled through yet another WNBA storm.
Clark and the Fever stormed to a 106-92 victory over the New York Liberty just hours after their head coach, Stephanie White, had issued a blistering response to her critics in a two-and-a-half-minute pre-game outburst.
White had come under fire in recent days for not appearing as supportive of her own player, Sophie Cunningham, after she was on the receiving end of a hard foul as many fans deemed sufficient online.
Amid the calls for her to be fired, White took aim at those accusing her of trying to ‘hijack’ the league in a fiery rant before tipoff.
Despite her explosive speech, boos echoed around Gainbridge Arena from Fever fans as the coach took to the floor before the heavyweight clash.
Clark, who endured her fair share of controversies this season, hit out at the behavior from the team’s fans as she backed the coach following the victory.
Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark (left) leapt to coach Stephanie White’s (right) defense
‘I hated that our fans booed her before the game,’ Clark said during her postgame press conference. ‘That made me a little sick, to be honest.’
‘There was no way we were losing this game for her,’ Clark added, continuing, ‘We’re going to ride for her, and we’re always going to have her back.’
During her blistering pre-game address, White had claimed that she took any suggestions that she did not have her ‘players’ back’ personally after acknowledging the criticism to her reaction to the foul on Cunningham.
‘It’s a shame that we can’t have an opportunity to talk about what great basketball they’re playing. Because they are f***ing playing,’ she said.
‘The reality is, with me, I will always lead with love. I will always lead with grace. I will always lead with humility, and I will always lead with integrity. Doesn’t mean I’ll always get it right. I’m also human.’
‘The hate, the fearmongering, the divisiveness, the stuff that’s trying to hijack our league will not win,’ White said, while pounding her fist on the table for the final three words. ‘It won’t win. We are united. We are connected. We will not be divided.
‘Every day these women put their ass on the line. Every day. When they go low, we go high. Love will win. Grace will win. Humility will win. And kindness will win.’
‘I stand by them. I will always stand by them. Everybody else can go to hell,’ White concluded, before picking up her notes and storming out of the press conference.
White issued a blistering rant after coming under fire for a foul on Sophie Cunningham (left)
Clark and the Fever stormed to a 106-92 victory over the New York Liberty on Tuesday night
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Indiana went on to clinch its seventh win in nine games as Kelsey Mitchell scored 20 of her 28 points in the first half, and Clark added 22 points and 10 assists.
White’s outburst only appeared to fuel the Fever, who shot 59 percent from the field and 79 percent from three-point range as they took a 64-46 halftime lead against New York, which had gone 8-1 since losing by 20 to Indiana in mid-July.
And this time, unlike last week against defending WNBA champion Las Vegas, they didn’t allow a double-digit lead to slip away.
Mitchell was 11 of 16 from the field and she, like Clark and Sophie Cunningham, each made four threes on a night Indiana finished with 16 on 25 attempts. Cunningham had 12 points, and Aliyah Boston added 19 points and seven rebounds.
Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu each had 19 points for the Liberty. Jonquel Jones finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Indiana took control with a 15-7 run late in the second quarter, extending the lead to 54-37.
When Indiana’s three stopped falling in the third quarter, New York charged back quickly and cut the deficit to 66-57 with 6:51 to play. The Fever recovered and Mitchell’s three-point play with and Cunningham’s three in the final minute of the period made it 87-67.
