Indiana Fever On SI

Caitlin Clark and Jacy Sheldon Add Fiery New Chapter to Rivalry in Fever-Sun Clash

Caitlin Clark and Jacy Sheldon went toe to toe in a contentious tilt Tuesday night. It's far from the first time these two have been at odds in a longstanding rivalry that dates back to their college days.
Lou Orlando|
Connecticut Sun guard Jacy Sheldon (4) and Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) express frustration with each other Tuesday, June 17, 2025, during a game between the Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Connecticut Sun guard Jacy Sheldon (4) and Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) express frustration with each other Tuesday, June 17, 2025, during a game between the Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. | Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Indiana Fever and Connecticut Sun locked horns in a heated clash Tuesday night, squaring off for a Commissioner's Cup battle in the Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Competitive, hard-fought play devolved into a series of skirmishes, with both sides needing to be separated on numerous occasions throughout the course of the game.

Centerfold in the fracas were Fever star Caitlin Clark and Sun guard Jacy Sheldon.

Sheldon and Clark noticeably sparred all night long in a tilt that had no shortage of trash talk. Of course, both had their reasons.

Sheldon's physical defense against Clark led to an exchange of words, provoking a brief scuffle also involving Connecticut's Marina Mabrey and several Indiana players early in the second quarter.

The real fireworks began halfway through the third quarter, when Sheldon connected with Clark's eye midplay. As the two engaged in yet another fiery exchange. Mabrey intervened once again, delivering a hard shoulder check that sent Clark to the floor.

In the aftermath, Sheldon's foul was upgraded to a Flagrant 1, and Clark, Mabrey, and Tina Charles were all issued technical fouls; still, the damage had been done.

Indiana answered Connecticut's hard foul with one of their own. As Sheldon drove the lane in the game's final minute, Fever guard Sophie Cunningham threw her to the floor, a maneuver that resulted in Cunningham being ejected from the contest.

In a vacuum, the game was a contentious bout between two Eastern Conference foes, with some smack talk peppered in for good measure. However, Sheldon and Clark's feud predates their time in the WNBA, extending all the way back to Clark's freshman season at Iowa.

Thus, it was no surprise that Clark and Sheldon's constant jawing came to underscore the night.

The feisty environment seemed to invigorate Clark, who helped the Fever pull away with a 20-point performance, defeating the Sun 88-71 and clinching a trip to the Commissioner's Cup championship game.

In one memorable sequence, Clark drilled a 28-foot three-pointer while being defended by Sheldon, and then took advantage of an Indiana timeout to re-engage with Sheldon.

"You can't guard me," Clark proclaimed (as we've deciphered thanks to some help from Twitter user @KHeiserCB), before hyping up the Fever fans in attendance.

To Clark's credit, she has the laurels to back it up. In 10 matchups against Sheldon at the pro and college level, Clark is averaging 31.7 PPG and has never scored less than 20 points.

While the two have battled before in the WNBA, it was their prior duels at the collegiate level that have come to define a deep-rooted personal rivalry, one that was on full display Tuesday night.

Sheldon spent the entirety of her five-year NCAA career at Ohio State, inhabiting the Big Ten for the complete duration of Clark's college tenure.

Iowa hosted #15 Ohio State on January 13, 2021, and thus, the Clark-Sheldon saga officially began, the first of six head-to-head battles during their collegiate careers.

An 18-year-old Clark notched a game-high 27 points, but it was Sheldon's Buckeyes who eked out an 84-82 victory in overtime. Clark hit a pair of free throws in the final two minutes of OT to even things at 80, but Sheldon's go-ahead layup with 1:24 left, part of an 18-point performance from the then-sophomore, gave the Buckeyes a lead they would never relinquish.

To add insult to injury, the win snapped Iowa's 42-game winning streak at home in Carver-Hawkeye Arena, only further fueling a Big Ten rivalry that had plenty of punch long before Clark or Sheldon stepped foot on their respective campuses.

Crossing paths a month later, Clark and Sheldon paced their squads with 30 and 29 points respectively, but it was Ohio State who celebrated yet again with a 92-87 victory.

The following season, Clark electrified to the tune of 43 points. Even still, Sheldon prevailed in a 92-88 Ohio State win.

Sheldon and Ohio State had Iowa's number -- but that year, Clark would get the last laugh.

The Hawkeyes and Buckeyes entered Big Ten tournament play with identical 14-14 conference records. Thanks to Ohio State's four-point victory over Iowa back in January, the Buckeyes owned the tiebreaker and were awarded the #1 seed.

Yet Sheldon and the Buckeyes fell to Indiana in the semifinals, instead watching Clark and the Hawkeyes hoist the Big Ten title as they celebrated an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Clark finally triumphed over Ohio State in January of 2023, the junior leading Iowa to an 83-72 win behind a 28-point triple-double. It was not a win over Sheldon, however, who missed the game and a large chunk of the 2022-23 season with a foot injury.

No, Clark's first win against Sheldon would have to wait.

Sheldon's injury limited her to just six regular-season games, but she returned for the 2023 Big Ten Tournament, helping Ohio State to the final round. On the other side of the bracket, the Hawkeyes took care of Purdue and Maryland, reaching the championship for a third straight season.

The stage was set. Clark's Hawkeyes and Sheldon's Buckeyes squaring off in the Big Ten Championship, an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.

In a complete subversion of everything that had come before, Iowa blew the doors off of Ohio State. Clark enjoyed her second triple-double in as many games against the Buckeyes, and the Hawkeyes triumphed 105-72, the injured Sheldon limited to just 1 point off the bench.

The 2023-24 season saw two final bouts between the Big Ten rivals.

In a January affair, #18 Ohio State upset #2 Iowa in another overtime classic. Clark had 45 points, but the Buckeyes won 100-92 as Sheldon helped ice the game with four free throws in the final 30 seconds.

The two were scheduled to meet just one more time in the final game of the regular season. Ohio State had locked up the #1 seed in the Big Ten, entering play with a 16-1 conference record and ranked No. 2 in the AP Top 25.

It was #6 Iowa's turn to upset the Buckeyes, coming away with a 93-83 win. Fittingly, Clark and Sheldon paced their squads one last time, notching 35 and 24 points respectively.

As the top two seeds in the Big Ten Tournament, the bitter rivals seemed destined for another fierce clash in the championship round. Instead, Ohio State fell in the quarterfinals while Iowa lifted the Big Ten title over Nebraska.

It's not hard to see why the competitive juices flow every time Clark and Sheldon meet at the pro level. It would seem that both sides have something to prove.

Clark was nothing shy of dominant in her NCAA jousts against Sheldon, averaging 35.0 points in their six meetings. Still, winning trumps all. Sheldon led the Buckeyes to a 4-2 record against Clark head-to-head.

On the flip side, it was Sheldon who was forced to watch Clark reach the Big Ten Championship final four years in a row, claiming the title in three consecutive seasons from 2022 to 2024. Despite boasting strong squads, Ohio State would reach the Big Ten Championship round just once during Sheldon's five years, but even that is tainted with a sour note after the blowout loss to Iowa.

The two have since met four times in the WNBA. This time, the advantage goes to Clark, who is 3-1 after Tuesday's 17-point win, putting their overall head-to-head record dead-even at 5-5.

Few will debate that Clark and Sheldon currently inhabit different orbits in the WNBA.

Clark has quickly risen to All-WNBA levels, dominating the game with her offensive prowess. Sheldon, meanwhile, has struggled to replicate the success she had at the collegiate level, averaging 5.7 PPG in 51 career WNBA games.

But college roots run deep. Every time Clark and Sheldon square off, you can expect to see some fireworks.

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Lou Orlando
LOU ORLANDO

Lou Orlando is a Fordham University alum, graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism. At Rose Hill, he covered women's basketball for the university newspaper, the Fordham Ram. In addition to calling games on 90.7 FM. The Brooklyn native enjoys bagels and thinking about random early-2010s athletes, that is when he isn't penning stories for Women's Fastbreak and Indiana Fever On SI.

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