WNBA Referee Reveals Reasoning for Caitlin Clark Flagrant Foul on Angel Reese

The referee who oversaw Caitlin Clark’s flagrant foul on Angel Reese on May 17 explained why the play was called that way.

If you’re a fan of women’s basketball, you already know what happened between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese in the third quarter of the Indiana Fever’s May 17 rout over the Chicago Sky.

But for the sake of excitement, we’ll still relay how Caitlin Clark fouled Reese hard while Reese was going up for what would have been an easy, uncontested layup if Clark hadn’t thwarted her. However, the issue came when Clark seemingly shoved Reese after the initial common foul, which sent Reese sprawling to the ground and initiated a very heated moment between Clark, Reese, and Aliyah Boston that led to a flagrant foul on Clark and technical fouls for Reese and Boston.

After the game, Clark conveyed that she didn’t agree with the flagrant ruling, saying, “It was just a good play on the basketball. I’m not sure what the refs saw to upgrade it, that’s up to their discretion after watching the initial whatever happened during the play, and then whatever happened after… It shouldn’t have been upgraded, but again, that’s up to the ref’s discretion.”

After the game, the WNBA Communications X account released a statement from the game’s referee crew chief Roy Gulbeyan, discussing why the flagrant was ruled as such.

Okay, the foul on Clark met the criteria for flagrant 1, for wind up, impact, and follow through for the extension of the left hand to Reese’s back, which is deemed not a legitimate basketball play, and therefore deemed unnecessary contact. After the foul, there is a physical taunt technical on Boston and a verbal technical on Reese, which offset,” Gulbeyan said.

So there you have it. It will be interesting to see whether Clark offers a response to this sentiment from the game’s crew chief.