A scramble for a loose ball in the first half of Wednesday’s Fever-Mercury matchup turned ugly. Alyssa Thomas pressed her fist on Caitlin Clark’s neck while the Indiana guard had slipped to the floor during a drive. The referees did not call a foul on Thomas for the play. Thomas then stepped over Clark after the scramble.<\/p>\n
Fans and observers erupted. The contact looked like a clear violation, but the no-call went unchallenged. The incident unfolded at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on June 24, 2026, in a game the Fever ultimately won 86-77.<\/p>\n
Bad blood between these teams was already simmering. Monday’s matchup saw multiple technical fouls after a dust-up between Clark and DeWanna Bonner in the second half. Wednesday’s incident only made things worse.<\/p>\n
Clark’s night was solid: 24 points, three rebounds, and nine assists on 8-for-17 shooting in 29 minutes. She made her feelings clear about the officiating. During her postgame interview, Clark didn’t hold back her criticism of the officials.<\/p>\n
But there was an irony to the evening. Clark picked up her fifth technical foul of the season\u2014for clapping. A celebratory gesture earned a whistle, yet the contact on her neck earlier in the game drew nothing. The contrast was hard to miss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alyssa Thomas pressed her fist on Caitlin Clark’s neck during a loose-ball scramble in the Fever-Mercury game Wednesday, but referees did not call a foul. The no-call sparked fan backlash as tensions between the teams continued to escalate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wnba"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n