The WNBA season is upon us and already sports fans are adding a new chapter to the storied “rivalry” between Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark.

The Indiana Fever hosted the Chicago Sky in the first of a few meetings this season on Saturday, May 17. During the third quarter, Clark was assessed a flagrant foul 1 after grabbing Reese’s arm and knocking her to the floor during a possession. In the immediate aftermath, the Sky forward went after Clark verbally for the physical play. After all, she spent much of her rookie season being called everything but her name due to what Clark fans felt was targeted tough competition.

However, in the postgame press conference, Reese shrugged off the hard foul with a short and sweet answer.

“Basketball play, refs got it right, move on,” she said, when asked about the play.

No one can blame her for not wanting to add fuel to the ridiculous fire to start her sophomore season. There’s something to be said about the league making much ado about the two facing off for the first nationally televised game and what seems like an insistence on keeping this rivalry on people’s minds.

Caitlin Clark Responds After Hard Foul On Angel Reese

Clark was also asked about the play after the Fever’s 93-58 victory over the Sky and she disagreed with the referee’s decision to upgrade it from a common foul. What a shocker.

“Let’s not make it something that it’s not,” Clark said. “It was just a good play on the basketball. I’m not sure what the ref saw to upgrade it, and that’s up to their discretion. It’s a take foul to put them at the free-throw line. I’ve watched a lot of basketball in my life, that’s exactly what it was. I wasn’t trying to do anything malicious. That’s not the type of player I am.”

Reese and Clark’s teammate, Aliyah Boston, were assessed double technical fouls on the play as well because the two had to be separated in the immediate aftermath. Some sports fans noted that the former Rookie of the Year walked off after the physical play and let her Black teammates handle the heat. This is also something she often did last year after similar questionable plays.

Nonetheless, the league Barbie remained mostly unbothered as she posted several photos of herself to her Instagram story right after the game. She also let her fans know that her “heart is full” due to their support. Still, it’s interesting to see some people break their arms to reach for negativity to hurl Reese’s way. Former NFL player and ex-ESPN host, Robert Griffin III, hopped in his inherently biased bag to stoke the flames via Twitter.

A Black woman gets knocked to the ground and has a fitting natural reaction to it only for someone to say that she is the one with hate in her heart. It’s like clockwork how Black women get labeled as the problem. Griffin’s tweet definitely laid the foundation for misogynists to, once again, go after Reese with disgusting vitriol and he’s yet to take accountable for inciting more violence against her.

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