Sophie Cunningham Credits Elbow Injection for Hot Shooting Stretch
Sophie Cunningham helped the Indiana Fever to a 113-91 win against the Toronto Tempo with a scorching hot 3-point shooting display. She went 6-7 from behind the arc and 8-11 from the field on her way to 24 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists. She was the Fever’s second-leading scorer behind Kelsey Mitchell, who seemingly cruised to 27 points.
Cunningham already shot 3-4 from long range against the Connecticut Sun, scoring 11 points late in the fourth quarter to extend the Fever’s two-point lead to 11.
After the game against Toronto, Cunningham offered a fascinating explanation for her hot shooting: a PRP shot.
“It’s called a PRP shot in the elbow,” Cunningham said in the postgame media availability when asked about what went into her success from the 3-point line. “I do think that. Just having a little bit of struggle with my elbow, but I really did get that fixed.”
Cunningham had been playing through pain for some time before getting the injection, proving her toughness all over again and offering an explanation for her not-so-great 3-point shooting to start the season.
“She’s tough as nails,” Stephanie White said about Cunningham in the postgame media availability. “She’s somebody who never complains about it and plays through pain, and, I mean, you’ve seen her.”
#Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, who tied her career high with six 3s tonight, said she recently got a PRP shot in her right elbow.
— James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) June 17, 2026
Fever HC Stephanie White on Cunningham:
“She’s somebody who never complains about it and plays through pain. You’ve seen her. She’s tough as shit.” pic.twitter.com/pGxZyi1XGQ
Big contributions from Cunningham are huge for the Fever
Everyone knows what Cunningham can bring to the table on any given night: toughness, defense, positional versatility, floor spacing, and energy off the bench. When she’s shooting as well as she did against the Tempo, those things are all amplified, and she makes life easier for everyone else on the court.
Indiana has a ton of offensive firepower between Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, and Aliyah Boston, and that alone is more than many teams can keep up with. They all scored between 18 and 27 points against the Tempo and combined for 66 of the Fever’s points—even more than their average of 58.3 points per game, which makes up more than half of the Fever’s point average per game (the second-best in the league).
Adding someone who can put up huge numbers off the bench, as Cunningham did, on top of that, makes it all the more difficult to contain the Fever’s offense and keep up with them in the scoring column. Cunnigham alone was just eight points away from matching the Tempo’s entire bench production.
After the game, White noted how important Cunningham’s 3-point shooting is, but also praised her for helping the team in many other ways.
“Sophie is one of those players that can just bring so much,” White said. “I think her leadership has been outstanding as well, and her ability to knock down shots is huge for us.”
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Elaine Blum covers women’s basketball for On SI from Europe. She has been writing about women's hoops since 2023 and holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism and a master’s degree in American Studies with a focus on women’s and gender studies. She started playing basketball when she was 10 years old and won several league and state championships at the youth and senior level.