In a nail-biting game against the Portland Fire, Angel Reese of the Dream faced a potential setback after being issued her eighth technical foul of the season during a 101-83 defeat on Friday night.
However, in a twist of events, ESPN shared shortly after the match that the WNBA had decided to overturn the foul. This decision kept Reese’s technical fouls at seven, allowing her to avoid an automatic one-game suspension.
The technical foul came early in the final quarter, with 8:45 on the clock, as the Dream lagged behind 76-61.
In the midst of a heated rebound battle, Reese found herself tangled with Portland’s guard, Carla Leite. The tussle saw Leite seemingly blocking Reese as she strived to secure a better position by the basket.
As they parted ways, Reese appeared to push Leite, though it was clear that Leite’s left arm was hooked around Reese’s back, complicating the situation.
Officials assessed Reese a technical, bringing her season total to eight, which would have meant a suspension against the league-leading Lynx. But the call was rescinded, and Reese will be eligible to play.
“Yeah, I’m sure that we’ll appeal it,” Dream head coach Karl Smesko said after the game and before the league made the decision. “From my vantage point, it didn’t look like something that was tech-worthy, so hopefully it’ll be rescinded. But I haven’t had the benefit of watching it on film yet or anything like that. But I think that’s probably something that we’re going to try to get rescinded.”
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Reese has been walking the disciplinary line for nearly seven weeks, having received her seventh technical on July 9 against the Storm.
The Reese situation also has a recent parallel involving old “rival” Caitlin Clark.
Clark appeared to receive her eighth technical during the Indiana Fever’s 90-86 victory over the Chicago Sky on Aug. 8, which would have forced her to serve a one-game suspension.
The WNBA rescinded the technical several hours later after reviewing the play, keeping the fellow All-Star at seven technicals.
The loss dropped the playoff-bound Dream to 25-14 on the season, losing a 1/2-game edge on the Fever, who jumped them for the No. 4 seed in the standings on Friday.
In the loss to the Fire — who improved to 16-23 — Reese ended the night with 16 points, 16 rebounds and six assists.
Rhyne Howard paced the Dream with a team-high 26 points, including six made threes.
Leite powered the Fire with 26 points and six assists while shooting 9-for-13 from the field, complemented by a career-high 25 points on 11-of-14 shooting from Queens native Emily Engstler, who also recorded six rebounds and hit a trifecta of 3-pointers on five attempts.