Kate Martin Gets Annoyed Over DiJonai Carrington’s Physical Defense During Unrivaled
WNBA standout Kate Martin didn’t seem to appreciate the physical defense DiJonai Carrington played on her during Unrivaled.
Apr 6, 2024; Cleveland, OH, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes guard Kate Martin speaks at press conference at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn ImagesMonday, January 20 marked the third slate of regular season games in the Unrivaled 3×3 women’s basketball league’s inaugural season.
The night’s second contest was between Mist BC and Laces BC. Given how Mist BC lost their first game of the year, they were looking to secure their first-ever Unrivaled win. However, it was the now 2-0 Laces BC squad who cruised to a 63-43 win.
Golden State Valkyries and Laces BC star Kate Martin continued her extremely solid start in the 3×3 league, as she finished the game with 10 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals in 10 minutes played.
However, it was a couple of interactions between her and Mist BC (and Connecticut Sun) guard DiJonai Carrington that caught attention.
At one point in the first quarter, Carrington whacked Martin hard on the face when Martin went for a layup. A foul was called and Martin appeared shaken up for a few seconds.
Later on in the contest, another foul was called on Carrington when she took a huge swipe at the ball Martin was holding and missed massively, instead hitting Martin hard on the arm.
After this foul occurred, Martin threw her arm up in the air, seemingly expressing frustration over Carrington’s defensive display.
X user @aclassyteaparty posted a video of this interaction with the caption, lmao very rarely are you gonna see kate look so visibly annoyed like this while playing 😭”.
Of course, Carrington has a very well-documented and controversial history of physical defense on Caitlin Clark, who is Martin’s best friend.
But we would imagine that Carrington’s hard fouls on Martin Monday were more out of frustration because her team was getting blown out and because she scored 2 points on 1-10 shooting from the field.