The June 17 showdown between the Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun had it all – Caitlin Clark getting poked in the eye, Sophie Cunningham getting tossed, and enough chaos to keep Twitter buzzing for days. But buried in all that drama was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment: Lexie Hull actually lost her cool. Yes, Lexie Hull. The same player whose fiercest battles are usually reserved for her twin sister Lacie, like refusing to come to dinner until she got a win in their driveway games. So when she confronted Jacy Sheldon on the court, even her mom, Jaime Hull, couldn’t believe it. Because if Lexie’s raising her voice, you know things have officially gone off the rails.

The incident happened with 4:49 left in the third quarter. As Caitlin dribbled near the 3-point line, Jacy Sheldon poked her in the eye, to which Caitlin Clark shoved her a little; however, as Marina Mabrey shoved Caitlin to the ground, Lexie Hull was busy yelling at Jacy Sheldon about the poke. Though she escaped without a technical foul, it was a clear indication of the entire Indiana Fever squad standing up together to protect Caitlin Clark. In a recent podcast with Rosalina Lee, Lexie’s mother gave a little insight into Hull’s demeanor on the court and how her reaction caught her by surprise. 

When Rosalina mentioned that Lexie might have something to say to DeWanna Bonner in their upcoming game, Jaime Hull had a surprising response. She said, “She’ll never do that. That’s not her speed at all.” When Rosalina said that she’s never seen her talk trash, Jamie continued, “She doesn’t. I can’t believe she got a tech for yelling at the ref. I couldn’t believe that. I’m like ‘Wow’. And honestly, the one time she went after Jacy Sheldon for Caitlin, I was like, I haven’t seen her yell at somebody like that other than her twin sister. Like she doesn’t do that.”

And that’s as true as it gets. In all her years of raising Hull, Jamie has probably only ever had to separate Lexie from Lacie. As their father, Jason, once said, “They hate losing. But they hate losing to each other more.” The twins battled in a fierce style during countless hours of driveway one-on-ones, which usually ended “with one of them crying in the grass,” Jamie once recalled. But that was about it. When it came to others, their parents instilled in Lexie the value of being tough from the inside, because, as Jamie once told her, “’Cause some day, the tables might be turned.”

Also, considering the amount of physicality the Fever have had to shoulder this season, it makes sense why Lexie has begun to lose her cool. But, amidst that, don’t think that she is going to let that affect her. She’s tough as nails.

Whenever White feels sorry for Hull, she quickly dismisses it

Before facing the Sparks, Lexie Hull collided head-on with the Storm’s Gabby Williams, a brutal impact that sent both players to the locker room for concussion evaluations. Hull was cleared to return, earning a standing ovation from fans despite a noticeable lump on her forehead. Later, Hull shared the aftermath in a TikTok video, revealing two black eyes after a fan asked about the healing “knot.” Removing her sunglasses, she explained: “funny you ask that, because it’s not doing great. I wish this was a filter. This is insane. I’ve been wearing these glasses all day but the knot is like gone. I’m still a little swollen, but the knot is gone. Instead, I just have two black eyes.” She added that sleeping with an eye patch to reduce swelling contributed to the “raccoon eyes” effect.

So, now, each time White looks at Hull, she feels sorry for Hull. “Every time I see her, I’m like, ‘Oh, poor Lexie’. But it really epitomizes Lexie’s toughness when you look at her and you see those two black eyes. I mean, she’s tough as nails,” White said. “She plays all out, every possession, all the time, and sometimes the result is two black eyes, and so I smile every time I see her. And but it definitely is a picture perfect viewpoint of the toughness that she brings.”

And that’s exactly what Boston felt when Lexie came back into the Storm game like a pest on defense. In a postgame conference, Boston said, “I feel like Lexie is the definition of tough. When you think of her as a player, the way she hustles, she likes to get loose balls, extra offensive possessions.”