'I'm going to protect my teammates.' Sophie Cunningham gains nearly a million followers after ejection
LAS VEGAS – Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham will always stick up for her teammates. Even if that includes being part of a late-game melee.
Cunningham was ejected from the Fever's game Tuesday after committing a flagrant 2 foul on Sun guard Jacy Sheldon, pulling her down by the head as she was going up for a layup. Sheldon and fellow Sun guard Lindsay Allen immediately reacted, rushing Cunningham and pushing her back into the fans sitting on the baseline. Cunningham grabbed Sheldon's hair as their other teammates and officials ran in, working to separate them.
It turned into what the officials and league eventually ruled a fight — Cunningham was ejected because of the foul on Sheldon, while Sheldon and Allen were both giving technical fouls for fighting and ejected.
It was the second scrum of the night, with the first coming midway through the third quarter. Sheldon poked Fever star Caitlin Clark in the eye, and Clark immediately recoiled and reacted, turning to Sheldon as the two shoved each other. Sun center Tina Charles got in between the two, but Sun guard Marina Mabrey also came running into the scrum, puffing out her chest and knocking Clark to the ground.
A lot of people, including media and fans across the league, thought Mabrey would get ejected for that hit. She was instead given a technical foul, as the referees thought "the contact made by Mabrey did not rise to the level of an ejection. Additionally, (it) did not meet the criteria for a flagrant foul penalty two," according to a postgame pool report conducted by IndyStar. Clark and Charles were also given technical fouls for acting in an "unsportsmanlike manner," while Sheldon's foul was upgraded to a flagrant 1.
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So, that second dustup, Cunningham said Saturday, was a buildup of multiple years of poor officiating and her desire to stick up for her teammates.
"I'm not focused on the extracurricular activities, and you know what, during that, it was just part of the game," Cunningham said. "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. 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."
Fever coach Stephanie White also admonished the referees after the game, saying they allowed the game to get out of control on separate instances.
Cunningham saw a lot of support from Fever fans immediately, as they were chanting "Sophie! Sophie!" during the review period and when she was eventually ejected. She has also has seen a significant surge in popularity over the past week.
Her jersey first sold out in the Fever team store. She has gained nearly 300,000 followers on Instagram and jumped from 300,000 to over 1.2 million followers on TikTok. She posted a video playing into what happened on Tuesday, lip-syncing "Can't keep my hands to myself / I mean I could, but why would I want to?" from the song "Hands to Myself" by Selena Gomez on Friday, with the caption "It's a joke... the sound was too fitting!" .
"It's cool, its funny what people are kind of attracted to," Cunningham said Saturday of gaining so many followers. "I'm just trying to keep the main thing the main thing, and that's basketball, trying to win games, sticking up for my teammates, that's all part of it."
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