Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham made a winking reference on Friday to an on-court skirmish that involved her slamming an opposing player to the ground.
Tuesday’s brawl at the Fever and Connecticut Sun game stemmed from Sun guard Jacy Sheldon becoming physical with Cunningham’s teammate Caitlin Clark during a play and poking her in the eye.
The two opposing players engaged in a heated verbal exchange before Clark lightly shoved Sheldon, prompting players from both teams to gather around.
Sheldon’s teammate Marina Mabrey came in late and pushed Clark to the ground. Mabrey was fined an undisclosed amount and issued a technical foul, which was later upgraded to a flagrant 2 foul, ESPN’s Alexa Philippou reported.
Heads cooled as the game went on, but Cunningham reignited the tension in the fourth quarter, when Sheldon made a steal and bolted toward the other side of the court. Cunningham knocked her to the floor in the last minute.
The Fever player’s move led to an all-out shoving match between players on both sides. She was also fined an undisclosed amount for the hard foul.
Cunningham’s popularity online surged after her hard foul. As of Friday, she had 1 million followers on TikTok, with many new fans saying they are tuning into games just to watch her.
Cunningham nodded at the hard foul play in a TikTok video, lip-syncing “Can’t keep my hands to myself, I mean I could but why would I want to?” from Selena Gomez’s hit song “Hands to Myself.”
She captioned the video “it’s a joke… the sound was too fitting! happy game day.”
“Girllllllllll, u have become a national treasure off that night alone. Officially a Fever/ Enforcer Sophie fan,” one TikTok user wrote.
“Legend,” popular fitness influencer Joey Swoll commented.
“Do i watch basketball? No. Do i love Caitlin Clark and now Sophie? Yes,” another user wrote.
