Caitlin Clark made her WNBA playoff debut on Sunday.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite the start the Indiana Fever’s rookie phenom was looking for. The Fever lost 93-69 to the Connecticut Sun and Clark left the contest a little banged up.
Connecticut Sun guard DiJonai Carrington poked Clark in the eye with a long fingernail while trying to swat a pass from Clark. Slow-motion footage showed Carrington’s hand bending at a stage angle to reach Clark’s eye, but no foul was called on the play.
According to Fox, Carrington spoke about the incident with reporters on Tuesday ahead of game two on Wednesday.
“I don’t even know why I would intend to hit anybody in the eye,” Carrington said. “That doesn’t even make sense to me. But, no, I didn’t. I didn’t know I hit her, actually. I was trying to make a play on the ball, and I guess I followed through, and I hit her. So, obviously, it’s never intentional. That’s not even like the type of player that I am.”
Carrington was later seen laughing with a teammate, but she insisted it wasn’t about striking Clark in the eye.
“I can’t laugh about something I didn’t know happened,” she said.
Whether it was intentional or not, expect Clark to respond in a major way on Wednesday night.
