Some physical jostling and trash-talking may have been at the root of Chennedy Carter’s hip-check heard around the world.
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 and then trash-talked her opponent up the floor.
Carter later responded with a cheap shot that earned her a flagrant foul.
“I’m a competitor, and I’m going to compete no matter who you are, and no matter who’s in front of me. So that’s just what it was,” Carter said Monday. “Heat of the moment play. We’re getting at it. We’re getting back and forth. It’s basketball. It’s all hoops. After we finish the game, it’s all love.”
She added: “I don’t have any regrets with anything. I’m going to compete and play 100 percent hard, no matter who it is — 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 a big leap to connect the preceding moments with what ultimately transpired.
With the Fever leading by four late in the third quarter, a third straight miss by Indiana resulted in both Clark and Carter going for the loose ball.
As Carter and her Sky teammate tried to corral the rebound, Clark reached in with her left hand and used said arm — and maybe her elbow — to move Carter out of the way.
The Fever then scored.
Right after the basket, Clark turned to Carter and appeared to trash-talk her opponent for quite a few paces.
Carter drained a jumper on the Sky’s next possession and then leveled Clark before the ensuing 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 you know, I’ve gotta play through it, that’s what basketball is about at this level. I thought we’ve been really physical, we’ve missed some bunnies around the rim, so hopefully, those fall in the fourth.”