The fallout continues from Tuesday night’s turbulent game between the Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun.
The WNBA has decided to upgrade Sun guard Marina Mabrey’s technical foul from Tuesday’s game to a flagrant 2 foul, Alexa Philippou of ESPN reported Wednesday. Additionally, Fever guard Sophie Cunningham is being fined separately for her flagrant 2 foul on Connecticut’s Jacy Sheldon (which was called on the floor at the time).
Front Office Sports notes that technical fouls in the WNBA come with an automatic $200 fine and flagrant 2 fouls come with an automatic $400 fine (as opposed to $200 for a flagrant 1 foul). As a result, Mabrey’s fine has gone up to at least $400. Cunningham’s fine is also going up above $400 (the amount of her separate fine from the WNBA was not disclosed).
Philippou notes though that no players will be suspended as a result of the incidents during Tuesday’s game.
The game between the Fever and the Sun at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. was marred by multiple heated incidents. During the first half, Fever superstar Caitlin Clark gave a push to Sheldon, who had gotten up in her face. Then in the second half, Sheldon hit Clark in the face while playing defense on her. Clark responded with a light shove on Sheldon, and Mabrey retalitated by shoving Clark to the ground.
Finally in the closing seconds of the contest, Cunningham got revenge on Sheldon by hitting her with a hard foul while Sheldon was going up for a layup in transition. Cunningham, Sheldon, and Sun guard Lindsay Allen were all ejected from the contest following the ensuing skirmish.
New video has since emerged showing a more troubling angle of Mabrey’s shove on Clark. While Clark did her best after the game to brush the incidents off, many will surely now be debating whether the discipline handed down here by the WNBA was enough.
