DiJonai Carrington didn't mean to hit Caitlin Clark in the eye: 'I was trying to make a play'
Caitlin Clark scored 11 points Sunday during her WNBA postseason debut. That's well below the Indiana Fever star's season average of 19.2 points a game.
She made only 24% of her shots and 15% from three-point range, also well below her season averages of 42% and 34%.
At one point during the third quarter of her team's 93-69 loss to the Connecticut Sun, Clark hit the bench with her hand in frustration.
She probably could have done without the black eye she got in the first quarter.
Less than two minutes into the first-round playoff game, Clark was poked near her right eye by Connecticut's DiJonai Carrington as the newly crowned WNBA rookie of the year was making a pass to teammate Aliyah Boston. Clark ended up doubled over on the floor clutching her eye, but no foul was called.
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She ended up with a bruise in that area of her face, but Clark didn't use it as an excuse for her subpar game.
“Got me pretty good in the eye. I don’t think it affected me, honestly," Clark told reporters after the game. "I felt like I got good shots, they just didn’t go down. Obviously a tough time for that to happen."
She added: "Obviously it didn’t feel too good when it happened, but it is what it is.”
The contact appeared to be accidental.
During media availability Tuesday, Carrington was asked if she purposely hit Clark in the eye.
"I don't even know why I would intend to hit anybody in the eye," Carrington said. "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 the type of player that I am."
Clark told reporters Tuesday the contact by Carrington "wasn't intentional by any means."
"Just watch the play," Clark said.
Read more: Caitlin Clark on culture wars: Don't use 'my name to push' racism, misogyny
During a game between the two teams in June, Carrington appeared to mock Clark for overselling a foul call. That same week, the fourth-year Sun player seemed to criticize the league newcomer on X for saying she doesn't "put too much thought and time into thinking about" people using her name to push such agendas as racism and misogyny.
Clark is the NCAA's all-time leading scorer and was the top pick overall for the Fever in this year's WNBA draft. She and the team struggled early in the season before hitting their stride following the league's Olympic break, going 9-5 down the stretch to claim the Fever's first postseason berth since 2016.
While she set a WNBA record with 337 assists this season, Clark also led the league with 5.6 turnovers a game. On Sunday, she had eight assists (right around her season average of 8.4 a game) while committing only two turnovers.
"I felt like I battled and tried my best and took care of the ball better than I usually do, which is a positive," Clark said.
One more loss this week will end the season for Clark and the Fever. Game 2 is Wednesday back in Uncasville, Conn. If a decisive Game 3 is necessary, it will take place Friday in Indianapolis.
“We can win," Clark said. "It’s not anything about the building. It’s not about the gym. It’s not about the hoops. I have all the confidence in the world in this team, and everybody in the locker room does, and I know we’ll be a lot better on Wednesday.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
