The Indiana Fever fell to 18-15 on the 2025 WNBA season after their disappointing 81-80 defeat at home to the Dallas Wings on August 12.
It has been a particularly tough day for Fever standout Sophie Cunningham. While she finished the game with a respectable 14 points, she was also tasked with guarding Wings star rookie Paige Bueckers for much of the game, which is never an easy ask for anybody.
Not to mention that Cunningham said she had to walk to Indiana's Gainbridge Fieldhouse Arena before the game (in high heels, mind you) because her car had broken down. That was not an auspicious start to the evening.
And that car malfunction was not the only thing outside of Cunningham's control that negatively impacted her on Tuesday.
With about a minute remaining in the second quarter of Tuesday's game, the Wings had the ball, and Cunningham was guarding Bueckers. In an attempt to try and free herself from Cunningham's tight defense, Bueckers gave her a slight shove. This sent Cunningham backwards with her arms in the air. As soon as a whistle blew the play dead, Cunningham began gesturing that Bueckers had shoved her.
Alas, the foul was called on Cunningham instead — and she was extremely upset about it. After beckoning for the Fever's bench to challenge the ball, Cunningham stopped pleading her case and looked at the arena's jumbotro, which showed a replay of the foul.
As soon as she saw what occurred, the ESPN broadcast caught Cunningham scream, "Goddammit!" before play resumed.
X user @nosyone4 posted a clip of this whole exchange with the caption, "sophie says 'goddammit' after she sees the replay of that 'foul'. should’ve been an offensive foul but the fever didn’t challenge.
sophie says “goddammit” after she sees the replay of that “foul”. should’ve been an offensive foul but the fever didn’t challenge. pic.twitter.com/YoyMzfXz63
— correlation (@nosyone4) August 13, 2025
Many would agree that Cunningham had a right to feel frustrated about this call not going her way.
That shove call wasn't the only one that went Bueckers' way on Tuesday, as Cunningham was also called for a flagrant because she didn't give Bueckers adequate space to land after shooting a three-pointer at another point in the game.
This was a particularly tough call, given that Cunningham was Bueckers' side rather than right in front of her.
Paige privilege showing up early. 3 fts and a flagrant foul called on Sophie pic.twitter.com/Dn0M8itCln
— Heavens! (@HeavensFX) August 12, 2025
Regardless, it was an extremely frustrating evening for Cunningham, capped off with the fact that she might have to walk home from the game in high heels.
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