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Caitlin Clark benched after heated exchange with coach Stephanie White

Saturday night’s nationally televised game against the Portland Fire did not go as planned for the Indiana Fever, and the frustration was evident on the sidelines.

The Fever entered Saturday night’s game as a 12-point favorite over the Fire as they looked to rebound from Thursday night’s loss to the Golden State Valkyries. However, Indiana was not the team that came away with a double-digit victory.

Portland dominated the Fever from start to finish as Caitlin Clark had one of the worst games of her entire career, struggling on both sides of the ball. And during the game, frustrations seemed to boil over between Clark and Fever head coach Stephanie White.

Caitlin Clark Struggles

Clark struggled on both sides of the ball throughout Saturday’s blowout loss. On the offensive end, Clark scored just six points in the game as she shot just 1-for-7 from the field and missed all three of her three-point attempts.

While her struggles on offense were evident, Clark actually struggled even more on the defensive side of the ball. Throughout the game, Clark struggled to defend Fire guard Carla Weite, who finished the game with 18 points and 12 assists.

Clark could not stay out of foul trouble, either, which caused her to spend a significant portion of the game on the bench.

Clark Benched After Heated Exchange

In the second quarter of Saturday’s game, Clark and White were caught having a heated exchange on the sideline during a timeout. A video captured by a fan in the stands showed the entire encounter.

In the video, which has since gone viral on social media, White was quite animated as she had some passionate words directly for Clark. White pointed right at Clark multiple times and slapped her knee in apparent frustration.

At first, Clark did not respond to White as she calmly drank water on the bench and looked away. Eventually, though, Clark did have an animated response of her own, holding her hands up while talking back to White.

It’s not clear what was said during the heated exchange, but following the interaction, White immediately benched Clark, putting rookie Raven Johnson in the game in her place.

Clark did re-enter the game about 2:30 later, but the incident and subsequent benching was still notable and led to several reactions on social media.

Incident Goes Viral

The heated exchange between Clark and White quickly went viral on social media, racking up more than 400,000 views in under three hours as fans offered their reactions.

“Being uncoachable when you’re on the court looking like barbecue chicken is crazy. Like it gets to a point. I lowkey feel bad for Stephanie White,” one fan wrote in a post on X.

“Steph’s gonna ‘win’ these battles, but she is going to lose the war (her job) sooner rather than later,” someone else wrote.

“What can justify talking back to your coach when you’re down 20,” someone else wrote.

“Oh boy, told Clark to get up and let Raven sit down,” another fan added.

“She’s so embarrassing, this happens every game. Steph has the patience of a saint, I would’ve told her to sit her [expletive] on the bench and find a new team,” someone else said.

“She basically told Caitlin to hand Raven a water,” another fan wrote.

Clearly, tensions were high between Clark and White.

The post Caitlin Clark benched after heated exchange with coach Stephanie White appeared first on The Comeback: Today’s Top Sports Stories & Reactions.

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