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During Saturday's Indiana Fever-Washington Mystics preseason game, recently-acquired Fever guard Sophie Cunningham was fouled hard by Washington rookie Kiki Iriafen.
After Cunningham pulled down an offensive rebound, Iriafen, who was behind her, appeared to throw Cunningham to the ground while the two were fighting for the ball in the paint. Cunningham, who is known for her fierce two-way play, immediately got up and went at the rookie before teammates and officials stepped in to break things up.
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The slow motion replay of the incident seems to show Cunningham saying something along the lines of:
"You don't f*****g do that. You don't f*****g do that."
The play wound up getting called a Flagrant 1 foul, helping fuel a second-quarter run by Indiana that saw the team go from down 24-13 in the first quarter, to down just three going into the half.
Despite a slow start to the game for the team, and some physical play heading into halftime, Cunningham proved to be an incredibly valuable asset for the Fever in the absence of Caitlin Clark.
Heading into a season where Indiana will look to return to the postseason with the intentions to do damage, the significance of the Sophie Cunningham acquisition by Indiana can't be understated.
Looking at Sophie Cunningham's stats
After joining the Indiana Fever this summer, Sophie Cunningham impressed in her preseason debut, leading the Fever in both scoring and rebounds in Saturday's 79-74 win.
Over 34 minutes of action, which included an overtime period, Cunningham recorded 21 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and a steal. She also notably shot an efficient 6-11 from the floor, while knocking down seven of her eight free throw attempts.
Following today's preseason clash with the Mystics, the team will be back in action again tomorrow for a highly anticipated exhibition with the Brazilian women's national basketball team.
All 15,000 tickets for the game, which is being held at Iowa's Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, sold out in under an hour after they went on sale back in February.
Following a preseason showcase against the Brazilian women's national basketball team on Sunday, the Fever will be back in action again next Saturday when they face off against the Atlanta Dream.
The team will then tip off the regular season on May 17 with a home game against the Chicago Sky.
