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Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham, the popular teammate of Caitlin Clark, gave an interior overview of Clark’s treatment by other teams, and the consequences of the tension he created during WNBA matches.
Cunningam revealed how his former team, The Phoenix Mercury, planned to play Clarkf during the recruit season of the phenomenon in 2024. Cunningham played his first five seasons in Phoenix before leaving to join fever this last off -season.
“You have seen players of our league trying to harden Caitlin … Even when I was not in his team, I know the discussions that Phoenix had in the locker rooms, as’ no, we will show him what the W is really ” and I do it to a certain extent, and each recruit coming in the league, it is how you are going to treat them.
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The Indiana Sophie Cunningham (8) fever goalkeeper and the Connecticut Soering Guard of Connecticut Jacy Sheldon (4) beat in the second half of a WNBA basketball match in Indianapolis, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (APPO / Michael Conroy)
“And now being in your team and seeing it, I say to myself” what people do “, in fact, it’s just too much, it’s too much. I’m over, and if I think it’s too much, it’s probably too much.”
Cunningham was on the other side of the situation when she started fighting to defend Clark in a match against Connecticut Sun earlier this season. Cunningham said that after the match, Clark exclaimed “Finally!” in the locker room.
“In the locker room, she leaves, I think she is like” finally! “” Said Cunningham. “But I think it had somewhat our team together as a whole. Everyone was like” we have to protect ourselves. “”
The fight fell into Connecticut on June 17, when Cunningham committed a hard fault on the sunshine Jacy Sheldon. Sheldon Poked Clark in the eyes Earlier in the game, then her compatriot of Sun, Marina Mabrey, pushed Clark to the ground.
Cunningham therefore chased Sheldon in the fourth quarter to commit a recovery fault.
“Last thought of the second intrusion, I was like” F — “”, said Cunningham about his decision to provoke the fight.
Their stormy exchange turned into a bomb game before the players of the two teams come to break it.
Cunningham, Sheldon and the Sun Guardian Lindsay Allen were ejected from the game with about 40 seconds before the victory.
But Cunningham alleys that the interaction has left his mark on his face.
“She didn’t want to do it, but she played my tooth,” said Cunningham. “It’s a bit discolored … We literally cracked teeth in the middle of the game, as opposite.
“There are a few players from their team who do just a little more.”
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June 17, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, United States; The Indiana Sophie Cunningham (8) fever custody and the Connecticut JACY Sheldon Solar Guard (4) are fighting in the second half at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. (Images of Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn)
Cunningham also said that it had been sentenced to a fine “like $ 900”, by the WNBA for the fight. But also claims that it was “his moment” while his supporters on Instagram and Tiktok quickly exceeded a million in the days that followed the match. Cunningham previously said that she was also sentenced to a fine of $ 500 for a Tiktok who joked the WNBA referees.
Previously, she called the referees only a few days after the fight of June 17 by addressing journalists, so as not to protect Clark, when she had to attack the fight publicly.
“During that, it was just part of the game. I think the referees had a lot to do with it. It was an accumulation for a few years now, not protecting the star player of the WNBA,” said Cunningham. “In the end, I will protect my teammates. That’s what I do.”
Cunningham has become a folk hero for many, and its popularity has skyrocketed in the days that followed the fight.
With Cunningham who wins the nickname “TheForcer” for fever, fans who count on her to protect Caitlin Clark can stay easily knowing that she is a black belt in Korean martial art of Taekwondo.
She won the black belt at the age of 6.
Her father Jim played football at the University of Missouri, and she ended up following her father’s footsteps on the football field.
A Article 2014 By the Columbia Missourian, reported that Cunningham was the first woman to have scored points for the history team, when she kicked two of the four additional points instead of the regular bootter of the team, who had torn ACL.
Cunningham even managed the kick -off tasks.
Sophie Cunningham # 8 of Indiana fever arrives at the arena before the match against the sky of Chicago on July 27, 2025 at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Il. (Gary Dineen / NBAE via Getty Images)
“I was so nervous,” said Cunningham at the point of sale. “I mean, I have never played football before in all my life. Just when I had the ball (when kicking off), I just heard. I just put the ball and I launched it.”
Cunningham comes from a family of farmers and attributes this education to the person they are today, according to series of functionalities in five parts by the University of Missouri.
“A large part of our success dates back to what we have learned here,” said Cunningham, working on the farm. “We loved going out on the farm to help. We discovered how to work hard and work together. It made us hard.”
