Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White raised eyebrows after Saturday’s 90-86 win over the Chicago Sky when she pushed back on Sophie Cunningham’s assertion that DiJonai Carrington intentionally leveled her during a first-quarter drive to the basket.

Incident Details

Carrington chased Cunningham down from behind as the Fever guard went up for a layup and caught her across the head and neck area, sending Cunningham crashing to the floor. Officials reviewed the play, upgraded it to a Flagrant 2 and ejected Carrington.

Cunningham had no trouble saying exactly what she thought happened. “Clearly, I think it was like unnecessary. I’ve never really spoken to her and have no beef with her, but I guess she has some pent up stuff. So get your stuff off. That’s fine. I can take it … Yeah, it’s intentional,” Cunningham said after the game.

Her coach didn’t see it that way. “Yeah, I mean, look, it was a hard foul. I don’t think that DiJonai intentionally came out to get her across the neck like she did. But it did happen and I thought it was the right call,” White said.

Coach’s Perspective

White coached Carrington for two seasons with the Connecticut Sun in 2023 and 2024 before returning to Indiana. So White knows Carrington well, perhaps well enough to feel confident speaking to her intentions.

Carrington certainly didn’t do much afterward to cool things down herself. Following her ejection, she posted “White Privilege” on Threads and tagged the Indiana Fever. She did not explain whether the message was directed at Cunningham, the officials or the Fever organization.

Cunningham dismissed the suggestion that Carrington’s ejection had anything to do with race. “I think the league is taking care of that. 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,” Cunningham said.

Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.