“I didn’t know I hit her”: DiJonai Carrington addresses claims of hitting Caitlin Clark’s eye
On Sunday, DiJonai Carrington and the Connecticut Sun faced Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever in Game 1 of the WNBA Playoffs. Early on in the game, while Clark had the ball near the 3-point line, Carrington stepped up to defend a pass. After deflecting the ball, her follow-through motion hit Clark in the eye, however, no foul was called.
“I don’t even know why I would intend to hit anybody in the eye. 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.”
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While many fans were quick to criticize DiJonai Carrington for the play, some post-game criticism was directed at the officials for the no-call as well.
“I don’t think it affected me” – Caitlin Clark on eye poke from DiJonai Carrington following Game 1 loss in WNBA Playoffs
Given the fact that Caitlin Clark and DiJonai Carrington had a run-in earlier this season as well, where Clark was mocked for what Carrington perceived to be flopping, the play in Sunday’s game has been put under the microscope.
After a rough outing that saw Clark struggle to find her rhythm as she went just 23.5% from the field and 15.4% from downtown in the Fever’s 93-69 loss, she spoke with media members.
Despite sporting a black eye as a result of the play involving DiJonai Carrington, Clark made no excuses when it came to her performance:
“[Carrington] got me pretty good in the eye; I don’t think it affected me. I felt like I got good shots, they just didn’t go down. Tough time for that to happen. I thought I got some really good looks. Three pretty wide open 3s in the first half, you usually make.”
Fortunately for the Indiana Fever and their fans, Caitlin Clark’s black eye didn’t appear to come with any damage to the eye itself. As a result, there is currently no talk of Clark sitting out Game 2 of the highly-anticipated playoff series.
Following Sunday’s win for Connecticut, the two teams will next collide on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. Pacific (7:30 p.m. EDT) as Caitlin Clark and the Fever will look to even the best-of-three series.
