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Fever’s Sophie Cunningham Posted Perfect Photo After Retaliation Foul on Jacy Sheldon

Sheldon was involved in a scuffle with Caitlin Clark earlier in Tuesday's game.

Kristen Wong

Indiana Fever forward Damiris Dantas (12) and Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (8) react to the action Tuesday, June 17, 2025, during a game between the Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Indiana Fever forward Damiris Dantas (12) and Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (8) react to the action Tuesday, June 17, 2025, during a game between the Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. / Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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The Indiana Fever beat the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday night in a game that started off competitive and ended in a feisty scrum. Caitlin Clark was on the receiving side of two seemingly dirty moves from Sun players Jacy Sheldon and Marina Mabrey in the third quarter, yet somehow no one got ejected.

Clark was able to bounce back from the dust-up and put away the Sun with a dagger three late in the 88-71 win, though it still felt like tensions were rising and the players weren't done jawing at each other.

With the game already over late in the fourth quarter, Clark's teammate Sophie Cunningham took a hard foul on Sheldon, who had made contact with Clark's face earlier. That led to a near-brawl in which Cunningham and Sheldon got into it on the baseline.

You can see that moment here:

Cunningham received a Flagrant 2 and was ejected. Sheldon and Sun guard Lindsay Allen were also ejected for fighting.

Afterward, Cunningham posted the perfect photo on her Instagram Stories:

Cunningham and Sheldon also share a bit of history on the court. The two were involved in a face-first collision in the previous Fever-Sun game which led to Cunningham chipping her tooth.

While one could argue Cunningham shouldn't have taken matters into her own hands and retaliated for the Clark incident, one could equally argue that the refs absolutely let the game get out of the control. The announcers said as much on the broadcast, as even they were surprised Mabrey wasn't ejected for knocking Clark to the floor earlier in the game.

Thankfully, nobody got hurt at the end of the day. The next time these two teams meet (July 15 at TD Garden) should make for another testy affair.

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Kristen Wong
KRISTEN WONG

Kristen Wong is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. She has been a sports journalist since 2020. Before joining SI in November 2023, Wong covered four NFL teams as an associate editor with the FanSided NFL Network and worked as a staff writer for the brand’s flagship site. Outside of work, she has dreams of running her own sporty dive bar.

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