Caitlin Clark’s teammate and enforcer Sophie Cunningham has slammed WNBA referees for ‘not protecting’ the Fever star after she was hip-checked to the ground this week during a wild clash.
Tensions rose in the second half of the Fever’s matchup with the Sun on Tuesday when Clark was poked in the eye by Connecticut’s Jacy Sheldon, with the Indiana star delivering a shove to her rival in return.
Connecticut’s Marina Mabrey then escalated the situation further as she forcefully bumped Clark to the hardwood.
And while Cunningham was not on the floor during the incident, she later avenged the contact on Clark with an extremely hard foul on Sheldon towards the end of the game, as she pulled her by her neck as she attempted a layup.
Cunningham was ejected for the play, but she didn’t sound regretful of her actions as she criticized the way referees have officiated Clark.
‘I’m not focused on the extracurricular activities,’ Cunningham said at practice on Saturday. ‘And you know what, during that, it was just part of the game. I think the refs had a lot to do with that.
Caitlin Clark was shoved to the ground by Marina Mabrey (left) versus the Sun, after being poked in the eye by Jacy Sheldon (far right)
Cunningham later stuck up for Clark by grabbing Sheldon around the neck late in the game
Clark and Cunningham are friends and the latter has been known to defend her teammate
‘It was a buildup for a couple of years now of them just not protecting the star player of the WNBA. And so at the end of the day, I’m going to protect my teammates. That’s what I do. And I’m a team player, so it’s all good.’
Fever coach Stephanie White echoed that sentiment, saying the refs lacked ‘control’ of the game and that ‘we knew this was gonna happen’ in the first quarter.
However, Sun coach Rachid Meziane did not share that view of Cunningham’s foul, which came with the Fever comfortably ahead and less than a minute on the clock.
‘I did not understand. When you are winning the game by 17 points and you are doing this, to me, stupid foul,’ Meziane said.
Footage that emerged after the game showed that Cunningham also tried to get involved in the initial scuffle involving Clark.
In the video, Cunningham – who was out of the game at the time – could be seen briefly trying to run towards the fracas before being intercepted by assistant coach Austin Kelly.
Cunningham (top right) had to be held back from racing to defend Clark in the second quarter
The scuffle ensued after Clark was poked in the eye by Jacy Sheldon, before she shoved her back
Cunningham is seen arriving to the arena before the game against the Liberty on May 24
Kelly then held onto Cunningham for several seconds before the incident died down.
Cunningham received a fine from the league after the game, while Mabrey’s technical foul (assessed for her shove on Clark) was also upgraded to a flagrant two foul, which came with a corresponding fine for such an infraction.
The tension between Clark and Sheldon had been building from earlier in the game, as the pair found themselves in a feisty exchange, with the Fever star firing off a volatile message after Sheldon appeared to say: ‘You can’t do that.’
‘I can do whatever the f*** I want to do,’ Clark said to Sheldon before shoving her away. Mabrey also stepped in to give a little shove to Clark, though things didn’t escalate further in that situation.
The Fever will face the Aces in Las Vegas in Sunday.
