Caitlin Clark BREAKS 3 WNBA RECORDS As Indiana Fever DOMINATE Jacy Sheldon & Connecticut Sun.

Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever walk into the historic TD Garden in Boston, playing the same Connecticut Sun team with Jacy Sheldon that gave her that infamous eye-poke and body check back in June.

Clark was about to shatter not one, not two, but three WNBA records in a single night while outscoring the entire Connecticut Sun in the final five minutes. What happened next will give you chills.

Fever-Sun rivalry, explained: Inside Caitin Clark’s beef with Jacy Sheldon feuds between Indiana, Connecticut

Playoff rematches in sports are often contentious, and through two games in 2025, meetings between the Indiana Fever and Connecticut Sun have been no exception.

While very few members of the Sun’s 2024 playoff team are still on the roster in 2025, things have gotten intense with the Fever. Tensions reached a head when the two teams met in Indiana on June 17, as six technical fouls were assessed and three players were ejected late in the game.

During that second game, the center of much of the tension was Caitlin Clark and Jacy Sheldon. And while the 2025 season is Sheldon’s first in Connecticut, her rivalry with Clark dates back even further than the recent rivalry between the Fever and Sun.

Here’s a closer look at what has happened between Indiana and Connecticut this season and the role Clark and Sheldon play in it.

Fever-Sun rivalry

The Fever and Sun’s first meeting of the season came on May 30 in Indianapolis. Clark was out with an injury, and Connecticut was in search of its first win of the season as it entered the game with a 0-5 record.

While nothing was ruled malicious, Fever guard Sydney Colson and forward Sophie Cunningham both exited the game with injuries.

Colson went down in the first quarter.

And Cunningham sustained her injury four minutes into the game’s final frame.

Neither play was whistled for a foul, but two players getting injured in one game served as the backdrop for the team’s second meeting a few weeks later.

When the two teams met on June 17, Clark was back in action, as were Colson and Cunningham. In the third quarter, Clark took exception to physical defense from Sheldon, who was whistled for a foul after incidentally poking Clark in the eye.

As part of taking exception to the foul, Clark pushed Sheldon away, causing more players to intervene. During the mix-up, Sun veteran Marina Mabrey rushed to her teammate’s defense with a push that knocked Clark to the ground.

Sheldon was given a Flagrant 1 while Clark, Mabrey, and Tina Charles were all assessed technical fouls.

With Indiana leading by 17 points in the game’s final minute, Sheldon had a breakaway opportunity in transition, and Cunningham was the only defender in her way. As Sheldon rose for a layup, Cunningham committed a hard foul, which resulted in another mix-up under the basket.

Cunningham was assessed a Flagrant 2 and an automatic ejection, while Sheldon and Lindsay Allen were both ejected for their roles in the altercation.

After the game, Cunningham made light of the situation on social media, and days later said she wasn’t focused on extracurriculars, instead saying, “I think the refs had a lot to do with that. It was a buildup for a couple years now of them just not protecting the star player of the WNBA.

“So, at the end of the day, I’m going to protect my teammates, that’s what I do, and I’m a team player.”

Caitlin Clark-Jacy Sheldon beef, explained

The individual rivalry between Clark and Sheldon dates back to their days as Big Ten foes.

While Sheldon is a year older than Clark, the extra year of eligibility granted because of the COVID-19 pandemic saw Sheldon’s Ohio State Buckeyes face Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes seven times between 2021 and 2024.

Clark posted a 3-4 career record against Ohio State, but the banter may have begun when she took a “Dub Chain” giveaway shirt after defeating the Buckeyes in Columbus. Sheldon never addressed it, but her teammates did, and it serves as a backdrop for her WNBA rivalry with Clark.

Sheldon is a pesky defender, and things escalated in June when her defense may have struck a nerve with Clark. Early in the second quarter, the two exchanged words and a shove as Clark appeared to tell Sheldon, “I can do whatever the f— I want to do.”

To do away with any speculation of an individual rivalry, Clark had plenty of words for Sheldon and the Sun when she canned a triple to put the Fever up by 20 points with four minutes remaining in the game.

After hitting the 3, Clark had words for Connecticut’s bench before clapping toward Sheldon and saying, “You like that!”

As the Sun called a timeout, Sheldon walked up to Clark, who appears to say, “You can’t guard me,” before hyping up the Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd. She is then escorted to the bench by a coach and checked out for the game.

The back-and-forth came just three minutes before Cunningham’s Flagrant 2 that resulted in the ejections.