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Indiana Fever livid over perceived 'double standard' by WNBA officials

Indiana Fever livid over perceived 'double standard' by WNBA officials

Yahooa day ago
Following Monday night's heartbreaking 81-80 loss, Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White called out the WNBA and its officials for having a "double-standard" against multiple players, most notably with Aliyah Boston's naturally physical style of play in the post.
White's comments came on the heels of a quite physical game, where the Fever (18-15) stormed back from a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter against the Dallas Wings (9-24), only to fall just one point short of a tie as Indiana could not get the final shot to go down.
While Dallas would actually be called for more fouls than Indiana by a 19-17 margin, it was the fouls that the Wings were able to get away with, which would be be penalized on Indiana with the roles reversed.
"There's a double standard there, certainly," White said. "But, you know, if it's going to be physical, and you're going to allow us to be physical, then allow both teams to be physical. If you're going to call the holds, and you're going to call the chucks, then call it both ways. So, I mean, I think that we've been pretty consistent in what we're asking for, and I didn't feel like it was consistent."
During the game, White often conversed with the officials during stoppages to get an explanation of their decisions, but her frustration peaked following a shocking upheld decision on an Indiana coach's challenge over a defensive foul on Boston that preceded a made basket by Dallas' Li Yueru.
During the sequence in which White instantly asked for a review, Yueru clamped Boston's arm with her elbow as she was going for the ball and continued to drag her arm around as she went up for a shot. Meanwhile, Boston was unable to escape the grasp and was forced into the foul by Yueru.
While Dallas' Paige Bueckers was noticeably upset with the lack of foul calls drawn while driving to the basket, the former Connecticut star guard would eventually be rewarded with drawn fouls later in the game. While this is nothing new for foul calls to be viewed differently over the course of a game, it did appear that Indiana got the "blind eye" treatment from the officials, especially on numerous reviews.
Preceding the appalling confirmed foul on Boston, there were two official-initiated reviews on potential illegal closeouts on 3-point attempts (one for each team).
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Indiana Fever livid over perceived 'double standard' by WNBA officials
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