Caitlin Clark’s Flop Fails to Sway Refs in Fever’s Tight Loss to Liberty

The New York Liberty edged out the Indiana Fever 90-88 in a nail-biter on Saturday, keeping their WNBA record spotless. But the real buzz wasn’t the score—it was the refs’ silence in the final seconds. With the game on the line, Caitlin Clark, last year’s WNBA rookie sensation, had the ball knocked away by Liberty’s Natasha Cloud. No whistle blew, despite Clark’s dramatic flop that suggested she’d been tackled by a linebacker. CBS New York’s Steve Overmyer didn’t mince words: “Clark tried to sell it like she got hit by a sniper, but there was no foul, no call.”

Controversy didn’t stop there. Another non-call on a blocked shot by Cloud against DeWanna Bonner had Fever coach Stephanie White fuming, calling it “egregious” and “obvious.” White also pointed to a questionable foul called on Fever’s Lexie Hull against Sabrina Ionescu, noting the team’s inability to challenge due to exhausted timeouts. “It’s disrespectful,” White said, lamenting the lack of consistency in officiating.

The game exposed deeper tensions in the WNBA, where players and coaches crave fairness but often feel the system fails them. Clark’s flair for the dramatic and the refs’ restraint stole the spotlight, leaving fans and analysts split on whether the calls—or lack thereof—shaped the game’s outcome.