Sophie Cunningham on the defense of Caitlin Clark after Brawl: the references not protecting the star player of the WNBA ‘

Sophie Cunningham does not apologize for her end of game ejection earlier this week during the victory of Indiana Fever against Connecticut Sun after defending Caitlin Clark after a hard fault. Clark was pushed in the back By Marina Mabrey in the third quarter during a melee that started when Jacy Sheldon of Connecticut raked Clark on the face. Mabrey was finally struck with a two flagrant 2 after the match.

Cunningham retaliated in the last minute of play with a sheldon launch on the ground during a Lay-Up attempt in a deterioration match. Cunningham addressed the room – and its problem with the league session – after the open practice on Saturday.

“I do not focus on extracurricular activities,” said Cunningham. “During that, it was just part of the game. I think the referees had a lot to do with it. It was an accumulation for a few years now, not protecting the star player of the WNBA. And therefore, at the end of the day, I will protect my teammates.

“That’s what I do. I’m a team player, so everything is fine.”

The WNBA referees were under fire all season to swallow their whistle on games involving Clark, which was pushed by many veterans of the League.

Fever coach Stephanie White seized Officing several times and reiterated the Chippy moments After Tuesday’s victory.

“I think it was quite obvious that things were preparing when the officials do not take control of the ball game, when they allow this thing to happen,” said White. “And it happened all season. It is not only this match, it happened all season.

“When you allow them to play the physical and allow these things to happen, they will compete. And they will have the back of their teammates. This is exactly what you expect from fierce competition. I started talking to the officials of the first quarter, and we knew that it was going to happen.

Connecticut coach Rachid Meziane saw no interest in the fault of Cunningham.

“I didn’t understand. When you win the 17 -point match and do this, for me, stupid,” said Meziane. “It’s just disrespectful and I don’t know how Lindsey [Allen] and jacy [Sheldon] Be ejected from the game when they did nothing. “”

Cunningham said Thursday evening’s defeat against the Golden State Valkyries was disappointing. He made a sequence of victories of two games for fever, which is 6-6 in total in the fight on Sunday with Las Vegas.

“Empty offensive goods, we were sloppy defensively … They simply worked on us,” said Cunningham. “This is not something we want in our DNA. I think you will see the cum on our part. Today was a little calm, but I think we were simply composed. We had a fun group, an awkward group. But sometimes you need to get angry and compose and I think that is what you saw today.”