SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM has in the WNBA since 2019 – but has now found her calling as Caitlin Clark’s enforcer.
The Indiana Fever star was seen leaping to Clark’s defense in a fiery clash with the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday.
Indiana Fever’s Sophie Cunningham is reveling in her new role as Caitlin Clark’s enforcer[/caption]
The Missouri native was a Taekwondo black belt at the age of just 6[/caption]
Cunningham also turned out for her high school football team[/caption]
Cunningham only joined the Fever in January after a trade from the Phoenix Mercury[/caption]
The 28-year-old’s jersey has now sold out after her brawl against the Sun[/caption]
Cunningham’s intervention quickly went viral after she was seen dragging the Suns’ Jacy Sheldon by her hair.
Sheldon had earlier appeared to poke Clark – the WNBA’s much-hyped former No. 1 pick – in the eye.
Cunningham took her opportunity to get Sheldon back later in the contest, sparking a wild on-court brawl.
The 28-year-old has since become an overnight sensation with basketball fans across the country.
Her jersey sold out in the hours after the incident, which led to her ejection in the Fever’s 88-71.
Cunningham grew up in Colombia, Missouri, with her sporting prowess evident before she’d even left the first grade.
The young Sophie earned her Taekwondo black belt at the age of just SIX.
She took up basketball early and was also a star on her school’s volleyball team.
And in high school, her sporting talents even extended to the football field.
Short of a kicker after he went down with an ACL injury, Rock Bridge High School’s desperate coach called on Cunningham to step in for kicking duties.
The teenager suited up for the Bruins, going two for four on field goal attempts.
“I was so nervous,” Cunningham told the Columbia Missourian in 2014 after her surprise debut.
“I mean, I’ve never played football before in all my life.
“Right when I got the ball, I couldn’t hear anything. I just put the ball down and kicked it.”
The WNBA came calling in 2019 after the 6-foot-1 Cunningham impressed for the Missouri Tigers.
Cunningham, a hard-working guard, left college with stellar numbers.
Across 129 games, she averaged 17 points and 5.4 rebounds per contest.
Sophie was selected by the Phoenix Mercury as the 13th overall pick in the 2019 Draft.
She would spend the next five seasons with the Mercury, enjoying a breakout year in 2022.
Cunningham was traded to the Fever in January, in a four-team deal that also included the Dallas Wings and the Sun.
Sophie is also known her daring game-day outfits[/caption]
She is now reveling in her new role protecting arguably the best talent ever seen in the WNBA.
Monday’s dramatic incident saw Cunningham hit with a Flagrant-2 foul, which triggered an automatic fine.
She was fined again later in the week for her role in escalating a brawl, per Marca.
But Fever fans won’t worry too much about that, with Cunningham’s grit showing Indiana are no longer going to stand for Clark being man-handled by the opposition.
