Caitlin Clark breaks her silence on Angel Reese mocking her during college basketball title game
Topics: US News, Sport, Basketball
Tom Wood
Featured Image Credit: Cal Sport Media/Alamy Stock Photo/ESPN
Topics: US News, Sport, Basketball
Caitlin Clark has finally spoken out after LSU athlete Angel Reese taunted her during their NCAA basketball final.
In case you haven’t seen this, Reese came over like John Cena during the match between LSU and Iowa on Sunday, and gave Clark the full ‘you can’t see me’ treatment.
Then, she refused to back down afterwards, despite criticism from many claiming she was being ‘disrespectful’ and ‘classless’.
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To be fair, this sort of thing happens all the time on the pitches, courts, and fields around the world.
The Baltimore-born black athlete Reese then hit out in a press conference after the match, stating that nobody had batted an eyelid when Clark – who is white - did the same gesture to another player for Louisville in an earlier game.
Reese said: "All year, I was critiqued for who I was.
"I don't fit the narrative, I don't fit the box that y'all want me to be in.
“I'm too hood. I'm too ghetto. Y'all told me that all year.
“But when other people do it, and y'all don't say nothing.
"So this is for the girls that look like me, that's gonna speak up for what they believe in."
She continued: "It's unapologetically you. And that's what I did it for tonight.
“It was bigger than me tonight.
"And Twitter is going to go into a rage every time.
"And I'm happy. I feel like I've helped grow women's basketball this year.
"I'm looking forward to celebrating and the next season."
Now, Clark has released a statement of her own following the furore that ensued, stating that she bears no ill feeling towards Reese, and urging others to get off her back as well.
As reported by journalist Keith Murphy, Clark said: “We're all competitive.
“We all show our emotions in a different way.
“Angel is a tremendous, tremendous player. I have nothing but respect for her.
“I love her game. I don't think there should be any criticism for what she did.”
There you have it – it was just a small taunt in the heat of battle, and now both players have had their say on it, it should be done.
In the end, LSU ran out winners in the final, beating Iowa by 102 points to 85.
Reese scored 15 points, had 10 rebounds and five assists in the game – some pretty impressive stats.
Clark scored 30 points, provided eight assists, and had two rebounds, which are great stats too.
But they weren’t good enough to take the title, that belongs to Reese and her LSU Tigers teammates.