When Indiana Fever welcomed the Connecticut Sun at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse arena, little did the teams know that they would soon turn desperate for a victory. And while the Fever walked away with an 88-71 win and a finals ticket to the Commissioner’s Cup, the grueling match turned aggressive within minutes of the whistle going off.
The teams were hardly 3 minutes in when Caitlin Clark crossed paths with Jacy Sheldon. And all it took was a moment for another Sun athlete, Olivia Nelson-Ododa, to shove the Fever guard out of the way. And if this wasn’t enough, Sheldon poked Clark in the eye while attempting a pass during the third quarter. When Clark tried to confront Sheldon, she was met with Marina Mabrey instead, who did not think twice before pushing her to the ground. And if you think this is crazy, wait till you know what happened in the fourth quarter of the tipoff. Hint: this cost Mabrey and Clark technicals as Sheldon received a flagrant 1.
In a twist of events, Sophie Cunningham landed a whopping surprise for her unsportsmanlike behavior on the hardwood. The incident earned her more than a whopping 50k followers, after everything went downhill during the final moments of the game. A user took to X and reported, “Sophie has now gained over 50k+ followers. now at 522k.” This social media news comes amidst the recent punishment announced by the WNBA; all players involved need to pay respective fines for each foul levied. But before all that, what exactly went down?
The backup guard came into limelight during the last leg of the match. With just 46.1 seconds remaining for the game to come to a close, Sheldon was on a breakaway when Cunningham wrapped her arms around Sheldon’s neck and pushed her to the floor. While Sheldon quickly got to her feet, Cunningham pulled her hair as the two verbally spat at each other. This incident was enough to eject Sophie Cunningham, Jacy Sheldon, and Lindsay Allen. The backup guard was sidelined due to an ankle sprain that was caused in the previous game against the Sun. Ironic.
sophie has now gained over 50k+ followers. now at 522k https://t.co/EQWzJCenAn
— aurora (@auraarosee) June 18, 2025
This incident, though extremely aggressive and physical, has triggered a massive audience to turn into followers for Cunningham. Her social media exploded after the showdown from just 468k followers before the incident. And instead of shying away after the incident, Cunningham posted a photograph of herself, mid-shrug, on Instagram – as if she knew what was to come.
Now, having said that, ESPN reporter Alexa Philippou revealed another development in the matter concerning the Fever and Sun players. She took to X and broke the news regarding foul upgradations. “Marina Mabrey’s technical from last night’s Fever-Sun game has been upgraded to a flagrant 2, the league told ESPN,” Philippou wrote. “A flagrant 2 comes from a standard fine. Additionally, Sophie Cunningham was fined separately for her hard foul with 46 secs to play. No players will be suspended.”
So while the league decided not to suspend any player, Cunningham has found herself with a slap on the wrist. Despite the negative effects of her actions, many Fever fans praised Cunningham for her bold stand against the Sun athletes as a mark of loyalty and respect towards the roster. But closer home, Connecticut Sun head coach Rachid Meziane was not impressed by the move.
Head Coaches speak their mind on Sophie Cunningham’s actions after the game
Tuesday night’s fiery showdown with the Connecticut Sun ended in controversy and raised eyebrows regarding the league’s officiating system. “I did not understand [Cunningham’s foul],” Meziane said. “When you are winning a game by 17 points and you doing this, to me, stupid foul, this is just disrespectful and I don’t know how Jacy and Lindsay [got] ejected from the game when they did nothing.”
The Sun coach saw the foul as unnecessary and disrespectful, especially coming from a player on the winning side.While his views on the officiating system were focused on Connecticut Sun, the Indiana Fever head coach, Stephanie White had direct concerns regarding the referees and the inconsistency of stepping up and nipping the matter in the bud instead. Known for voicing her concerns crystal-clear, White wanted clarity on Clark’s third-quarter foul.
“There wasn’t an explanation for the technical [Clark] got. I think it was pretty obvious stuff was brewing,” White said. She further highlighted the ongoing officiating issues and quipped, “Everybody’s getting better, except the officials. We need to remedy that. I mean, we’ve heard every coach talk about it. I don’t know what the answer is.”
While the league cleared that they would not be imposing fines on the respective head coaches for speaking their minds on the issue, one can not neglect the fact that the inconsistencies have, indeed, become the league’s identity. And are here to stay. As the two teams navigate through the fines, the limelight, and the drama, one thing is clear. The W needs to come up with better rules to avoid such incidents from blowing up in the future.
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