Fans do not forget easily. The Indiana Fever fans have kept some receipts of the treatment their star player, Caitlin Clark, received in the WNBA. The physical plays, no foul calls, and unnecessary hard fouls. One such incident happened in the 2025 season that shook the ‘W’.
A shoving incident occurred during the June 17 Indiana Fever vs. Connecticut Sun game. The offender, Marina Mabrey, recently came clean about the incident and also mentioned her relationship with CC after it.
Marina Mabrey Talks About Caitlin Clark’s Shoving Incident
The moment came in the third quarter of the game when the Sun defender, Jacy Sheldon, got too close to the Fever playmaker. She poked her in the eye, trying to reach for the ball. Frustrated by Sheldon’s physical play, the former Iowa star pushed her away and tried to look after her eyes. But Sun’s veteran guard came out of nowhere and shoved the fan favorite with a chest bump.
Fans in the Gainbridge Fieldhouse Arena got angry and booed the Connecticut side. Caitlin Clark, Sheldon, and Mabrey received technical fouls after review. Additionally, Mabrey also received a flagrant two foul for unnecessary contact.
Marina mabrey clearly shoving caitlin clark to the ground after a DEAD BALL and not getting ejected from the game is absolutely unbelievable. That was so clearly not a basketball play at all. Seriously do better refs… pic.twitter.com/vClvZK361C
— #22caitlinthegoat (@ccthegoat22) June 18, 2025
“So at the end of the day, it was a play on the ball when she did it. And I probably overreacted a little bit. But my teammate is getting hit, and I’m not okay with that. It wasn’t like, ‘I hate her! Here I do!’ I don’t do stuff like that. Everybody knows that I’ve never done that before,” Mabrey mentioned in her statement (via Sports Illustrated).
She added that she doesn’t care about the technical foul and the flagrant foul upgrade because the fans are making a fuss about it. The 28-year-old guard cleared that it wasn’t personal. She also mentioned that she was not trying to hurt anyone but wanted to take a stand for her teammate. The star was even considered in a trade by the Sun franchise before the deadline.
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The incident took an ugly turn late in the game, and Sophie Cunningham took her frustration out on Sheldon, which later resulted in a brawl.
Marina Mabrey Recalled Caitlin Clark’s Hard Foul On Her During 2024 Playoffs
The teams met in the WNBA playoffs a season ago. The former Notre Dame player recalled an incident in which the Fever rookie pushed her into the stands. She added that no flagrant foul was called on the 2024 Rookie of the Year winner at the time.
“Me and Caitlin were cool. Me and Caitlin have competed against each other in the playoffs. She threw me into the benches in the quarterfinals. We didn’t go after her for it. She’s competitive, and I was about to get the ball. I get it. Throw me out of bounds. We got back up and kept competing,” Mabrey explained her side.
While the Fever team went on to win the June 19 game, the incident highlighted ‘bad blood’ between the two franchises.