Flagrants, technicals, shoves and more. Fever beat Sun, head to Commissioner's Cup final
INDIANAPOLIS – In a chippy 88-71 win over Connecticut on Tuesday night, the Indiana Fever punched their ticket into the Commissioner's Cup final.
The Fever are now 6-5 and will head on a three-game road trip on the West Coast starting on Thursday.
Here are three observations from a feisty game:
In what has already been a physical game, the third quarter got chippy.
Sun guard Jacy Sheldon poked Caitlin Clark in the eye while she was trying to pass the ball, and Clark immediately grabbed her face. She then turned to Sheldon, and the two shoved each other as their teammates ran in. Sun center Tina Charles got in between Sheldon and Clark almost immediately.
Sun guard Marina Mabrey then ran into the scrum, puffing out her chest and knocking Clark to the ground. Clark fell onto a referee, and the two teams were immediately separated by the refs and coaching staffs.
After review, Sheldon's common foul was upgraded to a flagrant 1 and Clark, Charles and Mabrey each got assessed technical fouls.
The Fever crowd booed the officials as they read off the review, and booed Mabrey heavily whenever she touched the ball or checked into the game.
For the first time in the five-year history of the Commissioner's Cup, the Fever will be going to the finals.
Indiana's win over Connecticut secured a 4-1 record in Commissioner's Cup pool play, with their only loss coming to Atlanta. Indiana beat New York in cup play, giving the Fever the head-to-head advantage.
New York's win over Atlanta on Tuesday night gave the Liberty a 4-1 record in cup play and Atlanta a 3-2 record, securing Indiana's trip to the finals to fight for a $500,000 prize pool.
Natasha Howard played limited minutes in Indiana's win over New York on Saturday, logging just 14 minutes as a starter. She struggled against New York's strong frontcourt, recording just four points on 1-of-4 shooting from the field and four rebounds.
Tuesday was her bounce-back game.
Howard was the Fever's strongest player on Tuesday afternoon, recording 10 points in the first quarter and easily grabbing passes from Clark. She was dominant on the boards, too, beating out WNBA rebounding leader Tina Charles multiple times.
Howard finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds in 26 minutes of play.
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