Fever HC Says Caitlin Clark Was Fouled Late vs. Liberty, Talks 'Disrespect' After Loss

Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White told reporters after Saturday's 90-88 home loss to the New York Liberty that she felt the officials missed a foul call on Caitlin Clark's game-winning shot attempt.

"I thought [Clark] got fouled," White said. "I think it's pretty egregious what's been happening to us the last few games. ...I might be able to understand it if we were just chucking threes, but we're not. We're attacking the rim. The disrespect right now for our team has been pretty unbelievable."

After Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu made two free throws with 2.9 seconds remaining to give New York a two-point lead, Clark was unable to get a clean shot off at the buzzer:

Clark appealed to the officials for a call, but none were made, and the Liberty escaped with their undefeated record intact.

A big reason for New York's win was the fact that it attempted 32 free throws in the game, making 25 of them.

By comparison, the Fever only went to the line 15 times, and they made 11 of their tries from the charity stripe.

The star trio of Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Ionescu combined for 24 free-throw attempts, the last of which were Ionescu's two makes that gave New York a two-point victory.

The call on Ionescu was controversial, as Fever guard Lexie Hull was seemingly vertical when defending her shot. Even so, she was assessed a foul, and Ionescu took advantage.

After the Fever shot 25 free throws to the Chicago Sky's 12 in a 93-58 win to open the season, they came out on the wrong end of that battle in both games against the Atlanta Dream.

The Dream shot 32 free throws to Indiana's 26 in a 91-90 win for Atlanta. The Fever rebounded to beat the Dream 81-76 in the rematch, but Atlanta once again had more free-throw attempts with 23 to Indiana's 15.

While the Liberty made the most of their freebies on Saturday, the Fever didn't do themselves any favors either.

Indiana turned the ball over 16 times, with Clark being responsible for 10 of those turnovers.

The Liberty had 18 points off turnovers and the Fever had only 10, which played a significant role in New York coming back from a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter.

Although blowing a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter was a heartbreaking way for the Fever to lose, they proved their ability to hang with the WNBA elite by nearly beating the defending champions.

At 2-2, the Fever are off to a much better start this season than last when they went 1-8 out of the gate, and they will have a chance to move past Saturday's disappointing loss when they face the Washington Mystics on Wednesday.