“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.”
Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White defended opposing player DiJonai Carrington after the Chicago Sky guard was ejected for a flagrant 2 foul on Fever guard Sophie Cunningham during Saturday night's 90-86 Indiana win. Carrington chased Cunningham, who has been in the spotlight for her opposition to men in women's sports, on a first-quarter drive and struck her around the head and neck as Cunningham went up for a layup.
Officials reviewed the contact before upgrading the foul and ejecting Carrington from the game. Cunningham said afterward that she believed the contact was intentional: "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 s— off. That's fine, I can take it ... Yeah, it's intentional," Cunningham said.
https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/2086434933333987734
White disagreed with Cunningham's assessment, though, taking the side of the refs and Carrington: "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.
White had previously coached Carrington with the Connecticut Sun during the 2023 and 2024 seasons before returning to Indiana. "But you know, one of the things about Nay is that she's gonna play her butt off, man. She's gonna compete. Nobody's gonna go walking in for a layup. And so, I don't oppose the hard foul. But I also don't think that she intentionally went for the neck."
Carrington later posted "White Privilege" on Threads and tagged the Fever. She did not clarify who the post was directed toward. White declined to comment on the social media post. Cunningham also addressed Carrington's post and rejected the idea that the incident was related to 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. "There's no reason even to play that card."
Cunningham also accused Carrington of seeking attention because of the increased national attention surrounding the Fever. "I don't even know her. She wasn't even on the team last year when all that was going on," Cunningham said. "But I do think when people play the Fever, we're nationally televised, there's a lot of eyes on us and people just want attention. And that's her just trying to get attention."
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