During her rookie season, Caitlin Clark’s dad, Brent, admitted he was an “emotional” player on the basketball court in college.

“I was a pretty emotional player,” he said. “I even recall fights in a couple of games. I wasn’t the instigator, but the competitive juices just flow. Caitlin and I see a lot of me in her in that way, but I think she does a much better job of controlling her emotion. She’s got fire, but she has the presence of mind not to react when someone says something or does something to her. I wish I had a little bit more of that maturity when I was at Simpson.”

His admission came after the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year had her fair share of on-court issues during her rookie campaign, racking up six technical fouls – just one away from a mandatory one-game suspension.

That competitive spirit hasn’t left Clark, who kicked off her sophomore season by getting into an altercation with Chicago Sky star Angel Reese. Just two games later she was back in the spotlight thanks to her scuffle with Atlanta Dream star Rhyne Howard.

The latter was called for a foul at half court leading Clark to put her shoulder in Howard’s chest which sparked a small scuffle. After the players were broken up and went to their respective benches for a moment to cool off the Fever star could be seen sending a five-word message to Howard.

“I’m not scared of you,” she said plainly.

After her altercation with Reese two games ago, Clark made it clear she doesn’t believe she’s a dirty player.

“Let’s not make it something that it’s not,” she said at the time.  “It was just a good play on the basketball. I’m not sure what the ref saw to upgrade it, and that’s up to their discretion. It’s a take foul to put them at the free-throw line. I’ve watched a lot of basketball in my life, that’s exactly what it was. I wasn’t trying to do anything malicious. That’s not the type of player I am.”

Howard might think a bit differently tonight, but Clark isn’t backing down.