Fever's Sophie Cunningham Takes Punishment After Fight vs. Connecticut Sun

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Sean Deveney | Last updated Jun 17, 2025 10:21 PM ET

The Indiana Fever are riding high after their big win over the Liberty on Saturday, a game that saw the return of Caitlin Clark after five missed games with a quad injury and pushed the team back to the .500 mark on the season. It also saw the return of a key Fever role player--wing Sophie Cunningham, who scored five points and grabbed four rebounds in that game.

On Tuesday, it was back to the hardcourt at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, where the Fever were playing the Connecticut Sun, the team that Indiana lost to in last season's postseason. The Sun are struggling as they go into a rebuild, at 2-7, but there still are tensions left over between the teams.

In fact, there are tensions between Clark and Sun guard Jacy Sheldon that go back to college, when Sheldon was an All-American at Ohio State and the Clark starred for Big Ten rival Iowa.

In a game that the Fever controlled throughout, Clark and Sheldon had multiple dust-ups, including a third-quarter tussle after Clark was poked in the eye. But things got bad with just 46.1 seconds to play and the Fever holding a commanding 87-70 lead when Sheldon drove to the basket.

Cunningham grabbed Sheldon and tossed her to the floor to prevent the layup, but did so without making a real play on the ball. Teammate Lindsay Allen stepped in to grab Cunningham, and Sheldon hopped up after the hard foul and went after Cunningham, too. That ignited a bit of a fight between the two teams.

Sophie Cunningham: The Enforcerpic.twitter.com/aOyGxFk4XH
— Clark Report (@CClarkReport) June 18, 2025

Cunningham was hit with a flagrant-2 foul and ejected from the game. Sheldon and Allen were hit with technical fouls, too.

After a lengthy delay the officials hammered out the penalties. Cunningham could be facing durther discipline from the league--a fine, tough not likley a suspension. The Fever moved to 6-5 with the win, as the final came in at 88-71.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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