Dijonai Carrington’s forearm caught Cunningham across the face on a fast break, and the two grabbed each other before staff pulled them apart. She left with a flagrant 2 and an ejection, then went to Threads with two words aimed at the Fever.
The foul came with about two minutes left in the first quarter of Saturday’s nationally televised game, as Cunningham elevated for a layup and Carrington hit her from behind. Cunningham crashed to the floor, got up, and swiped at Carrington before Makayla Timpson and a Fever staffer restrained her.
Referees reviewed the contact and upgraded it to a flagrant 2, ending Carrington’s night. She’d been perfect to that point, 8 points on 3-for-3 shooting.
From the locker room she posted “WHITE PRIVILEGE @indianafever” to Threads, then deleted it and posted the date of the next Sky-Fever matchup, Aug. 23.
Cunningham waved off the framing. “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. There’s no reason even to play that card,” she told ESPN.
Neither coach would engage the post. “I don’t know anything about that, but no, no response,” Fever coach Stephanie White said. Sky coach Tyler Marsh said he hadn’t heard about it yet.
Indiana won 90-86 behind 26 points and 11 assists from Caitlin Clark, who picked up her eighth technical of the season for contact with a referee after being forced out of bounds, and faces a one-game suspension if it isn’t rescinded. Before tip-off, XX-XY Athletics rallied outside the United Center in support of Cunningham, who has drawn weeks of attention over her comments on transgender athletes in women’s sports
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