DALLAS — Caitlin Clark defended Angel Reese's gestures near the end of the Tigers' victory in the NCAA women's basketball championship on Sunday.
Reese waved her hand in front of her face while staring down Clark, then pointed toward her finger as if to say a ring was coming while walking toward the Iowa star.
The gestures late in the Tigers' 102-85 victory in the NCAA championship game Sunday lit up social media, with comments supporting the “Bayou Barbie” for trash talk that's just part of the game and condemning her for lacking grace in victory.
In an interview with ESPN on Tuesday, Clark came to Reese's defense, saying that she did not take offense from the gesture.
"I don't think Angel should be criticized at all. No matter what way it goes, she should never be criticized for what she did. I compete, she competed," Clark said. “It was a super, super fun game. I think that's what's going to bring more people to our game."
Reese, the bubbly junior from Baltimore who transferred from Maryland to join flamboyant LSU coach Kim Mulkey, was unapologetic in the postgame news conference.
“All year, I was critiqued about who I was,” Reese said. “I don’t fit in a box that y’all want me to be in. I’m too hood. I’m too ghetto. But when other people do it, y’all say nothing. So this was for the girls that look like me, that’s going to speak up on what they believe in. It’s unapologetically you.”
Clark, the scoring sensation who was the first with consecutive 40-point games in an NCAA Tournament, made the face-waving gesture to no one in particular during an Elite Eight victory over Louisville.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.