"Bailing them out of Lex Island": Fever fans anguished as video shows officials' embarrassing error on Lexie Hull

The Indiana Fever's Lexie Hull got called for a foul that she clearly didn't commit during their game against the Atlanta Dream. Indiana took on Atlanta in Game 1 of their first-round matchup in the 2025 WNBA Playoffs. It was a frustrating Sunday night for the Fever as all odds seemed to be against them.

The game between the Fever and Dream was intense from the beginning. Every player kept going at each other, holding nothing back. However, during the final three minutes of the first quarter, frustrations started kicking in for Indiana after Hull got called for a foul on Rhyne Howard.

Howard attacked the paint in a fast break transition play with Lexie Hull as the defender. Hull kept her hands up the whole time, with Howard stumbling down. Despite not making any contact with each one, the officials whistled for a defensive foul call against Hull. This led to Hull showing frustration, and the Fever challenging the referee's call.

Fans on social media couldn't help but express their thoughts on the official's bad call. Here's what some fans said on X:

vivi 🌝

@ViFdz

@nosyone4 Bailing them out of Lex Island

Trent Harvey

@TheTrentHarvey

@nosyone4 Do you expect anything less from the clown show refs?

Joe Motil A Mayor of the People and for the People

@mojotil

@nosyone4 This was the absolute worst referee called Fever game of the year. I was glad Coach White finally let the refs have it. It was worth the technical. It was one bad call after another.

Jerod Jones

@jones_jerod

@nosyone4 They called that a foul???? What a joke

The FBI did it..!

@donal_lee

@nosyone4 The WNBA had better get serious about its referee problem, or it will have no audience in the very near future.

Clive Samuels

@Riizzzie

@nosyone4 The refs are so bad they just call a foul when someone falls.

Thankfully, Indiana's challenge was successful. However, as the game continued, Indiana's head coach, Stephanie White, got called for a technical foul after giving the referees an earful due to the consistent bad calls they made throughout the night.

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Indiana Fever's playoff hopes on the line after losing to Atlanta Dream in Game 1

The Indiana Fever are one loss away from getting knocked out of the 2025 WNBA Playoffs after the Atlanta Dream beat them 80-68 in Game 1 of the first round. Leading the Dream to victory were Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray. Both Atlanta players were the highest scorers of their team.

Howard added 20 points, six rebounds, two assists and one steal. As for Gray, she put up 20 points, six rebounds, four assists, three steals and one block. Gray's all-around performance is what helped the Dream maintain a huge lead over Indiana.

Helping the stars were Naz Hillmon and Brionna Jones, who both were in double figures as well. Hillmon nearly had a double-double outing, adding 16 points, nine rebounds, three assists, three blocks and one steal. Jones, on the other hand, added 12 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Indiana will get the chance to redeem itself on Tuesday in Game 2. However, it's going to take a lot more than Kelsey Mitchell's scoring efforts to beat Atlanta if they wish to remain in the playoffs.