Caitlin Clark and Tiffany Hayes have been mentioned in headlines together since their intense duel on Friday in Fever’s 90-82 win over the Valkyries. Ahead of their rematch on Thursday night at Chase Center, Clark denied beefing with Hayes, at least from her perspective.
Addressing reporters pre-game, Clark said:
“I mean, for me, you’re just a competitor, you leave it on the court, there’s not anything you carry over into the next game … I’m gonna speak for me, I don’t know about the other side. But, yeah, for me, I approach every game the same way. I don’t have any bad blood with any sort of players.”
Clark said she expected Thursday’s game to be fast, physical and competitive. She pointed out that the referees will dictate the physicality and how far teams can go during the matchup.
How did Caitlin Clark and Tiffany Hayes’ incident escalate?
Caitlin Clark and Tiffany Hayes found success on offense against each other. Clark had the last laugh with the win and arguably the biggest highlight of the night. The Fever superstar laced a near logo 3-point shot over Hayes and talked trash to the Valkyries veteran after giving her a bump.
She even signaled to her to make it a one-on-one duel between them. Hayes also jawed at Clark, but their teammates slyly intervened before things escalated. After the game, Hayes took a dig at Clark’s favoritism with the referees, suggesting the Fever star won’t be on the floor if they called a fair whistle.
On Monday, Hayes engaged with a few fans on the Threads app, who supported the back-and-forth with Clark. One of the fans wrote they had cousins who could show up on request, which came off as threatening. Hayes replied to that and faced significant scrutiny online for acknowledging it.
A day later, Tiffany Hayes left a cryptic comment on Caitlin Clark’s teammate, Aliyah Boston’s Instagram post, including images from the Valkyries-Fever game. She graded Boston’s post “5/10,” adding:
“5/10 and you know why”
Fans will keep tabs on their matchup in Thursday’s rematch. For Caitlin Clark, it’s a new start. But for Tiffany Hayes, there seems to be some bad blood given her social media activity since Friday’s loss.
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