Fever’s Caitlin Clarke says eye poke was unintentional, ‘I feel happy’

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark said Tuesday that her right eye is fine and denied any suggestion she was intentionally hit by Dijonay Carrington in the first-game loss to the Connecticut Sun.

Clarke was hit in the eye by Carrington in the first quarter of Sunday’s loss, leaving him with bruises that had mostly disappeared by the time he appeared at Tuesday’s news conference.

“[It] “I feel happy. It looks good too, so I’m happy,” Clark said.

But the subject of the blow became a hot topic on social media, to the point that Carrington was asked if she had deliberately hit Clarke while with The Sun.

“I don’t even know why I would ever hit someone in the eye,” Carrington said. “It doesn’t make sense to me. But no, I didn’t. I didn’t know I hit her, actually. I was trying to play the ball, and I think I followed through and hit her. It was clearly never intentional. That’s not even the type of player I am.”

When asked about it, Clark denied any speculation about the play.

“It was not intentional in any way,” Clark said. “Just watch the play.”

Clark and her team face a crucial second game on Wednesday as their season hangs in the balance. The reigning Rookie of the Year scored just 11 points on 4-of-17 shooting in a 93-69 loss in Game 1, but she said she feels they will make enough adjustments to give themselves a much better chance.

“We know we can beat this team,” Clark said of his team’s 84-80 win over the Suns on Aug. 28. “We did. They’re obviously very good and we know it’s going to be a big challenge, but I don’t think we’re afraid of it. I think we have to embrace the challenge.”

We know we didn’t give our best. [Sunday] “The final result may look like we were thrashed, but we had six points. We had eight points. But we never got over that hurdle.”

Fever coach Christy Sides said she was very disappointed with the defensive performance.

“We did a really good job defensively with our schemes, and I don’t think we did a great job of making it difficult for them, especially on some of the shots they took,” Sides said. “They shot the ball really well. There’s a lot of things we can do differently to make it more difficult for them to get some of those shots.”

On the near-death experience, Clark said, “I don’t want this to end… I feel like this has been a really special year for our organization and our goal is to make the playoffs, but everybody in our locker room believes we can win this series. Obviously, this is a must-win for us and we believe we can come here and win it.”