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Sun Coach Justifies Marina Mabrey’s Actions Toward Caitlin Clark

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Chris Phelps | Last updated Jun 18, 2025 8:07 AM ET

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark has had a bumpy start to her second WNBA season, missing five games due to a left quad strain.

However, on Tuesday, the Fever were able to secure a second-straight win with Clark back in the lineup, defeating Rachid Meziane and the Connecticut Sun 88-71.

Clark finished the game with 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting, six assists and two steals. The Sun's Marina Mabrey, on the other hand, had one of her worst games of the season, finishing with six points and eight rebounds.

But the two stars were involved in a heated altercation that stole headlines.

With 4:48 remaining in the third quarter, Clark had the ball and was attempting to dribble to her left before taking a shot to the face from Connecticut's Jacy Sheldon. The former Iowa star took exception to this, slightly shoving Sheldon in response.

But Mabrey had her teammate's back, walking over to Clark and shoving her to the ground right in front of the referee. While the commentators thought Mabrey would be ejected, the referees just handed her a technical, along with Clark and Tina Charles. Sheldon received a flagrant.

After the game, Meziane spoke on the viral exchange from Tuesday's game, justifying Mabrey's decision to shove Clark.

"She just tried to be between two players," Meziane commented. "The ref has to do their job to clean the game, and make sure that the best team won the game and not just who is more physical."

Rachid Meziane doesn't think Marina should've gotten get ejected for push on Caitlin Clark:

"She just tried to be between two players...The ref has to do their job to clean the game, and make sure that the best team won the game and not just who is more physical." @TheNextHoops
— Deyscha "Sway" Smith (@deyschasmith) June 18, 2025

While Fever coach Stephanie White may not agree about Mabrey's intent, she does agree on the poor officiating.

"I've seen quite a few dust-ups in the league so far, so I think it's a league-wide issue," White said. "Bad officiating is bad officiating."

With the win, the Fever advance to the first Commissioner's Cup Championship in franchise history, facing Napheesa Collier and the Minnesota Lynx on July 1.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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