Some physical jostling and trash-talking could have been at the foundation of Chennedy Carter’s hip-check heard around the globe.
Right before Carter’s controversial foul against Caitlin Clark on Saturday, which has dominated sports talk ever since, Clark boxed Carter out with a high arm/elbow after which trash-talked her opponent up the ground.
Carter later responded with an inexpensive shot that earned her a flagrant foul.
“I’m a competitor, and I’m going to compete irrespective of who you might be, and irrespective of who’s in front of me. In order that’s just what it was,” Carter said Monday. “Heat of the moment play. We’re getting at it. We’re getting backwards and forwards. It’s basketball. It’s all hoops. After we finish the sport, it’s all love.”
She added: “I don’t have any regrets with anything. I’m going to compete and play one hundred pc hard, irrespective of who it’s — like I said — or who we’re playing. No, I don’t have any regrets.”
While Carter has called it a heat-of-the-moment play, it doesn’t take an enormous leap to attach the preceding moments with what ultimately transpired.
With the Fever leading by 4 late within the third quarter, a 3rd straight miss by Indiana resulted in each Clark and Carter going for the loose ball.
As Carter and her Sky teammate tried to corral the rebound, Clark reached in along with her left hand and used said arm — and perhaps her elbow — to maneuver Carter out of the way in which.
The Fever then scored.
Right after the basket, Clark turned to Carter and appeared to trash-talk her opponent for quite a number of paces.
Carter drained a jumper on the Sky’s next possession after which leveled Clark before the following in-bounds pass.
Clark later ripped Carter for the foul during her interview with ESPN, and Carter has been almost universally scolded for the play.
“Yeah, that’s just not a basketball play,” Clark said. “But , I’ve gotta play through it, that’s what basketball is about at this level. I assumed we’ve been really physical, we’ve missed some bunnies across the rim, so hopefully, those fall within the fourth.”
