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Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham threw a jab at the WNBA and its referees Saturday.
While speaking with reporters about her fiery and physical defense of teammate Caitlin Clark Tuesday against Connecticut Sun players, Cunningham called out the league for “not protecting” Clark during the phenom’s young WNBA career.
Cunningham became a viral sensation over the last week after committing a hard foul on Sun guard Jacy Sheldon, who poked Clark in the eye earlier in the game. A brawl between the teams ensued with Cunningham at the center of it for Indiana. Cunningham, Sheldon and Sun guard Lindsay Allen were ejected from the game with about 40 seconds left before the Fever took home the victory.
“During that, it was just part of the game. I think the refs had a lot to do with that. It was a build-up for a couple years now of them just not protecting the star player of the WNBA,” Cunningham said. “At the end of the day, I’m going to protect my teammates. That’s what I do.”
Lack of equal protection for Clark by referees has been one of the WNBA’s biggest criticisms since she entered the league last year.
Clark’s rookie year in 2024 included several controversial incidents in which Clark was roughed up by opposing players. Sometimes, referees failed to call a foul, sparking fan outrage.
This season, in a loss to the New York Liberty May 24, Clark took contact from New York’s Natasha Cloud on the final play of the game. Referees did not call a foul, prompting Clark to throw her hands up in confusion, and she and Cunningham barked at the referees as the game ended.
A replay showed Cloud pushing her shoulder into Clark’s the moment the ball came loose. The Fever were down by two, and a foul would have sent Clark to the free-throw line with a chance to win the game.
Cunningham is taking matters into her own hands to punish players who get too physical, in her opinion, with Clark. And Cunningham also appears to be keeping referees on their toes.
WHO IS SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM? CAITLIN CLARK’S NEW ‘BODYGUARD’ TEAMMATE
Former NBA All-Star Joakim Noah, who built a reputation as an “enforcer” during his career while protecting a young Derrick Rose, told Fox News Digital in September he would urge the Fever to get a player to protect Clark for 2025.
“If I was the owner of the Indiana Fever, I would get a real enforcer in there to protect her,” Noah told Fox News Digital.
“Sometimes I feel like she is getting hit because she is a very talented person. … But, at the end of the day, we’re in the business of winning games, so if I’m the owner [of the Indiana Fever], I’m getting a real enforcer in there.”
Who is Sophie Cunningham?
Cunningham has become a folk hero to many, and her popularity has skyrocketed in the days since the fight.
Prior to Tuesday’s game, Cunningham had fewer than 400,000 followers on TikTok.
At the time of publication, she had 1.2 million on TikTok, and that number is only growing.
She has an estimated increase of more than 300,000 followers on Instagram since the game as well, with a total of more than 800,000 at the time of publication.
With Cunningham earning the nickname “the enforcer” for the Fever, fans counting on her to protect Caitlin Clark can rest easy knowing she is a black belt in the Korean martial art of Taekwondo.
She earned the black belt at the age of 6.
Her father Jim played football at the University of Missouri, and she ended up following in her dad’s footsteps on the football field.
A 2014 article by the Columbia Missourian reported Cunningham was the first female to ever score any points for the team in history, when she kicked two of four extra points in place of the team’s regular kicker, who had torn an ACL.
Cunningham even handled kickoff duties.
“I was so nervous,” Cunningham told the outlet. “I mean, I’ve never played football before in all my life. Right when I got the ball (on the opening kickoff), I couldn’t hear anything. I just put the ball down and kicked it.”
Cunningham comes from a family of farmers and credits that upbringing for the person she is today, according to five-part feature series by the University of Missouri.
“So much of our success goes back to what we learned here,” Cunningham said of working on the farm. “We loved coming out to the farm to help. We found out how to work hard and work together. It made us farm strong.”
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