Caitlin Clark reveals referee assessed technical foul for 'disrespecting the game of basketball' vs. Storm

Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever came away with a blowout win on Sunday, but it didn’t come without the former Iowa superstar losing her temper for a brief moment. She got called for her fifth technical foul of her rookie season in the WNBA, for punching the base of the basket after a play.

In her Sunday evening postgame remarks, Clark explained why she got the technical from the referee.

CC on her tech: “[The ref] told me it was disrespectful to the game of basketball… reminded me of the technical I got in college where I said dammit, where it’s like a personal frustration…. but I think he fired me up to continue to play a lot harder… so I want to thank him.” pic.twitter.com/gkDMoXcI0X

— Matthew Byrne (@MatthewByrne1) August 18, 2024

An important thing to note is if she gets two more technical fouls, according to WNBA rules, she’ll have to serve a one-game suspension.

Caitlin Clark had another record-setting day

It was another record-setting day for Caitlin Clark as she led the Indiana Fever to a 92-75 victory against the Seattle Storm on Sunday. Clark finished the day with nine assists, bringing her season total to 232 to set the WNBA rookie record.

The record previously belonged to Ticha Penicheiro of the Sacramento Monarchs, who recorded 225 assists during the 1998 season. Clark, who was not yet born at the time Penicheiro set the record, gave props to the WNBA legend, who still ranks third all-time with 2,599 career assists.

“Ticha has been a big fan of mine ever since I was in college and somebody that has always been right there to congratulate me or just be somebody that offers advice,” she said postgame. “So to pass somebody like her, I’m just forever thankful. She’s been a legend in our game. It’s super cool, but hopefully there’s a lot more of those.”

Clark didn’t get off to the best start Sunday, and she had only two assists at halftime with the Fever clinging to a one-point lead. She dished out seven more over the final two quarters as Indiana pulled away in the fourth for a win.

The Fever led 59-58 entering the final quarter but would go on to outscore the Storm 33-17 for the victory. Lexie Hull got things going with a couple of 3-pointers early as she finished the game 6-of-7 from downtown.

Indiana seemingly couldn’t miss from long range as Kelsey Mitchell also knocked down a pair of triples. The team shot 15-of-31 (48.4%) from 3-point range on the day. That included 3-of-10 from Clark, who finished with 23 points, nine assists and five rebounds.

“I think just staying confident and staying aggressive,” Clark said. “That’s what I tell myself. I thought they played really good defense to start on us and then we find of got into a little bit of a flow and played a little bit more in transition. We were a lot more successful and obviously Lex was amazing. I don’t know if we missed a shot in the fourth quarter.”

On3’s Chandler Vessels also contributed to this article.