Fever's Stephanie White Sides With Cheryl Reeve Over Viral WNBA Referee Outrage
The biggest story in women's basketball over the weekend stemmed from the September 26 WNBA Semifinals Game 3 contest between the Minnesota Lynx and the Phoenix Mercury.
Lynx star forward Napheesa Collier was dribbling the ball with about 30 seconds left in the game and her team down four points. Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas stole the ball from her, but ran into Collier's leg while doing so. The referees didn't call a foul on Thomas (despite Collier getting injured as a result of the contact), and Phoenix got an easy layup on the other end, thus cementing their victory.
As soon as the ball was through the net, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was on the court, screaming in a referee's face over a foul not getting called. This led to her being ejected, requiring multiple members of her coaching staff to hold her back, and ultimately resulted in her being escorted out of the arena while shouting curses at Mercury fans.
Reeve's rage didn't simmer down after the game ended, as she put the WNBA and its officials on blast when addressing the media.
After blasting the fact that no foul was called on Collier, Reeve said, "I want to call for a change of leadership at the league level when it comes to officiating. It's bad for the game. The officiating crew that we had tonight, for the leadership to deem those three people semifinals playoff worthy is f****** malpractice."
- “This is the look our league wants.. for some reason”
— Rachel A DeMita (@RADeMita) September 27, 2025
- Napheesa Collier “probably has a fracture”
- Calls for a change in leadership at the league level
- refs that were chosen for Semi-Finals Game 3 = “f’ing malpractice”
Cheryl Reeve 🫡pic.twitter.com/go9NUN5bFa
Reeve was ultimately suspended one game for her comments. And given that Minnesota lost to Phoenix in Game 4 without her on September 28, Reeve's team (which was the No. 1 seed heading into the playoffs) is now eliminated.
Stephanie White Speaks on Cheryl Reeve Comments
Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White has been critical of referees this season, which has cost her at least one fine. However, that didn't keep her from supporting Reeve when speaking with the media before her team's Game 4 win against the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday.
"I mean, I think that she made a lot of valid points," White said when asked about Reese's outburst, per a video from the Fever's YouTube account. "A lot of the same kind of conversations are happening. You know, it's happening from every team, from every franchise, from every coach, from every player.
"I think at some point, there has to be some accountability," she added.
White has been calling for accountability from officials all season long. But it doesn't seem like any chances will be getting made any time soon.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the Indiana Fever and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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