Fever Fans Upset With Stephanie White For Defending DiJonai Carrington’s Flagrant 2 Foul on Sophie Cunningham

Stephanie White defends DiJonai Carrington’s physicality against Sophie Cunningham.

Fever Fans Upset With Stephanie White For Defending DiJonai Carrington’s Flagrant 2 Foul on Sophie Cunningham

Stephanie White on the DiJonai Carrington's hard foul on Sophie Cunningham (Image credits - Firstsportz)

DiJonai Carrington has a history against the Indiana Fever. And Saturday night was no different when the Fever took on the Chicago Fire at the United Center on Saturday night.

The controversy broke out when Carrington smacked Sophie Cunningham across the face and neck when the latter was driving to the basket on a fast break. After crashing to the floor, Cunningham quickly got up and exchanged a few heated words with Carrington before their teammates separated them.

The hard foul was reviewed by the officials after all the drama. The referees called it a Flagrant 2 foul and ejected Carrington with two minutes to go in the first quarter.

After the game, Fever head coach Stephanie White told the reporters that it was nothing more than a hard foul and even defended Carrington.

One of the things about [Carrington] is that she’s going to play her butt off, man. She’s going to compete. Nobody’s going to go walking in for a layup. I don’t oppose the hard foul, but I also don’t think that she intentionally went for the neck.

Stephanie White in her post match press conference

DiJonai Carrington is often praised for her hustle plays and blocking opponents from behind during layups. But sometimes, WNBA fans label her a “dirty player” because of her physical style of play.

She faced a lot of criticism a couple of years ago when she allegedly poked Fever guard Caitlin Clark in the eye during the 2024 playoffs. There is no doubt that the hard foul on Cunningham was a dirty play on Carrington’s part. However, it is a bit surprising to see White speak out in Carrington’s favor and defend her against accusations that it was an intentional dirty play.

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Fever fans left stunned after Stephanie White defended DiJonai Carrington’s hard foul on Sophie Cunningham

It is not often that a head coach speaks out in defense of an opponent player after a Flagrant 2 foul. The hard foul was a dangerous play, but Cunningham avoided any injury.

Fever fans took to social media to react to White’s post-match press conference statements.

Fever fans were left quite upset by White’s comments after the game. They were disappointed that their head coach did not come out in support of Cunningham.

Jason Whitlock called out Stephanie White for defending DiJonai Carrington

After watching replays of the hard foul, it is hard to argue against the officials’ call. It was a foul that could have resulted in a serious injury for Sophie Cunningham. While White defended the Sky defender over the play, Clark sat next to her looking quite surprised.

Stephanie White
Stephanie White (Image credits – MARCA)

Any person caught surprised by White’s comments is sports analyst Jason Whitlock. The veteran analyst was upset and took to social media to voice his shock.

Is this real? Did Stephanie White really say this?

Jason Whitlock on X

Whether Carrington’s play was intentional or not, it does not excuse the dangerous contact on Cunningham. It will be interesting to see the two lock horns once again when they face off in two weeks.

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