Indiana Fever On SI

Sophie Cunningham's High School Football Exploits Resurface After Fever-Sun Skirmish

Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham cut her teeth on the football gridiron before being a baskeball enforcer.
Grant Young|
Jun 17, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (8) in the second half against the Connecticut Sun at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images
Jun 17, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (8) in the second half against the Connecticut Sun at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham has cemented herself as her team's enforcer through this 2025 WNBA season. This was proven by the way she seemingly retaliated on Sun guard Jacy Sheldon in the final minute of the Fever's June 17 game, after Sheldon poked Caitlin Clark in the eye one quarter prior (which started its own skirmish).

Cunningham did so by sending Sheldon hard to the ground while she went for a layup, which caused what can fairly be called a brawl that led to Cunningham, Sheldon, and Sun guard Lindsay Allen all getting ejected.

Seeing Cunningham get so physical was surprising to some. However, it starts to make more sense when one considers not only that Cunningham was a black belt as a kid, but that she also played high school football.

A video of Cunningham playing for her high school football team surfaced on social media on June 18 and quickly went viral.

And a 2014 article from the Columbia Missourian tells the entire story.

"Sophie Cunningham, a senior who stars on the Rock Bridge women's basketball and volleyball teams, served as the Bruins' kicker and will do so for as long as the team stays alive in the Missouri State High School Activities Association Class 6 playoffs," the article wrote.

"Cunningham also is now the first Rock Bridge female to ever score for the varsity football team, nailing an extra point following a Hayden Johnson touchdown run at the end of the first half."

Cunningham was a replacement for the team's normal kicker who had torn his ACL before the playoffs. And she is quoted in the article saying, "I was so nervous. I mean, I've never played football before in all my life. Right when I got the ball (on the opening kickoff), I couldn't hear anything. I just put the ball down and kicked it."

Clearly Cunningham is no stranger to physical play, and never has been.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the Indiana Fever and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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