Sophie Cunningham blasts player for using ‘race card’ after being struck in the face

Saturday’s Indiana Fever-Chicago Sky game got testy. Fever guard Sophie Cunningham was attempting a layup in a back-and-forth first quarter when she found herself thwacked in the face by Sky guard DiJonai Carrington and went crashing to the hardwood.

Following the dangerous play, the two players had to be separated after Cunningham took exception. After video review, Carrington was assessed a flagrant 2 foul and ejected from the game, but it didn’t take long to hear from her.

“WHITE PRIVILEGE,” she posted on Threads, tagging the Indiana Fever’s official account.

For her part, Cunningham says race wasn’t involved at all, regardless of Carrington’s feelings on the matter.

“I think the league is taking care of that,” she said after the game, via ESPN. “This has nothing to do with race. Last year, I did the same thing, and I got kicked out. And I deserved to be kicked out. There’s no reason even to play that card.”

Fever head coach Stephanie White acknowledged that it was a hard foul, but didn’t feel there was any malicious intent.

“Look, it was a hard foul,” White said. “It did happen, and I thought it was the right call. One of the things about [Carrington] is that she’s going to play her butt off, man. She’s going to compete. Nobody’s going to go walking in for a layup. I don’t oppose the hard foul, but I also don’t think that she intentionally went for the neck.”

Cunningham, on the other hand, feels it was an attention grab by Carrington.

“Another day, another dollar,” Cunningham said with a smile. “Welcome to my life, boys and girls.

“I wasn’t even upset. I mean, I popped up. I’m not going to let anyone just do that to me. I think everyone knows that. I think that’s why she did it, because she wants attention. I mean, s—, like, people have started craving attention. Like, go get it somewhere else. Go do something good in the world, I don’t know.”