Two black eyes for the Indiana Fever wing

• Lexie Hull went from a knot on her forehead she could see in her peripheral vision to two black eyes
• The condition is known as raccoon eyes according to the Cleveland Clinic
• Lexie Hull has been cleared to play

LOS ANGELES — Every time Indiana Fever coach Steph White has seen Lexie Hull these past few days, she gets this small smile on her face. Immediately following it is an, “I’m so sorry.”

She’s looking at the two black eyes that have formed on Hull’s face after a collision with Gabby Williams during Tuesday night’s game against Seattle.

“Every time I see her, I’m like, ‘Oh, poor Lexie,'” White said following the Fever’s shootaround on Friday. “But you know, I think 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, you know. 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.”

Hull knocked heads with Williams early in the first quarter of Tuesday’s game, sending both flying to the ground in pain. Play stopped as trainers tended to them, and both were eventually able to stand up and walk under their own power. Williams went back to Seattle’s bench to get checked out and returned to the game later in the first quarter. Hull walked straight back to the Fever’s locker room with a trainer.

White was checking in on Hull’s status throughout the first quarter, making sure she didn’t suffer anything serious. Hull eventually returned to the bench, then checked into the game, with a huge knot on her right forehead — big enough that she could see it out of her peripheral vision.

Hull played through the game as normal after her return from the locker room, logging 23 minutes with five points and nine rebounds in the 20-point win. She was hoping the swelling would go down Tuesday night, as she had a photoshoot on Wednesday before the Fever headed out West.

In one way, she got what she wanted: the swelling significantly subsided by Wednesday morning. But, in place of the knot on her forehead, she had what the Cleveland Clinic refers to as racoon eyes.

“I put a patch (on the knot), slept with it, the next day, woke up and I was like, OK, the bump is almost gone, but now I have two black eyes, so that was tragic,” Hull said. “But I mean, it’s at this point that unfortunately, won’t be able to hide it, people know, so just rolling with it.”

Hull said the makeup artists for her photoshoot did their magic, as people who didn’t know her weren’t able to tell that she had black eyes.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, head injuries, including hematomas, are the most common cause of double black eyes. Racoon eyes can stem from anything between minor injuries, like plucking eyebrows, to something as severe as a skull fracture.

Blood vessels are delicate and can burst very easily, according to the Cleveland Clinic, and the knot on Hull’s head on Tuesday indicates she had a hematoma, which is a collection of blood under the skin. As the swelling went down on the knot on Hull’s head, that blood moved to where there was loose tissue under her eyes.

Hull was checked for a concussion and a potential facial or head fracture on Tuesday, and she confirmed that she didn’t have any injuries outside of the black eyes.

“Honestly, when it happened, I was relieved, because I could feel myself, like I was good to go, like I felt completely with it,” Hull said. “They did all the tests they needed to do, and put ice on it right away try to keep the swelling down, but I felt good knowing that, like, obviously, it could have been a lot worse. And I’m grateful for the people online wanting to check on me and make sure that I’m OK, but I am OK, I’ve been fully checked out.”

Hull’s injury not being serious was a sigh of relief for this Fever team that has been ravaged by injuries lately. Indiana has lost three crucial players to injuries over the past month: Sydney Colson (left ACL) and Aari McDonald (right foot) were ruled out for the season after suffering their injuries on Aug. 7, and Sophie Cunningham tore her right MCL on Aug. 17 to sideline her for the rest of the year.

Caitlin Clark has been out since July 16 with a right groin injury, and she is taking steps to work back from it before the end of the regular season. Chloe Bibby missed the last three games with a left knee injury, but she is returning Friday.

Suffice it to say, Indiana has had it’s fair share of injuries. And the coaching staff was grateful they didn’t need to add Hull to that list.

“It was a big sigh of relief,” White said. “She means a lot to our team, and having her on the floor is important. And, you know, with all of the injuries that we’ve had, it was we were able to take a little bit of a deep breath.”

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