In the Indiana Fever’s game against the Minnesota Lynx, Sophie Cunningham appeared to have taken an elbow to the face midway through the second quarter, as Minnesota forward Nia Coffey tried to strip the ball away from her. Naturally, the officials headed to the monitor for yet another look at the play. But instead of clearing the air, the review only clouded it further.
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When the play resumed, the officials assessed the foul against Cunningham rather than Minnesota forward Nia Coffey. A decision that many, like WNBA analyst Ben Daniels, are now calling out.
“You can’t make this up!” Daniels said on his podcast in disbelief. “Sophie Cunningham gets elbowed in the face, and somehow this is a foul on Sophie Cunningham. The worst part is these dummies, these stooge referees reviewed this play too, and still came to the conclusion that the foul is on Sophie Cunningham.”
Daniels believed that it should have been given as an offensive foul against the Minnesota forward, as he noted on his podcast. He solely though isn’t the one criticizing this decision.
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy also reacted on X, writing, “Sophie just got 17 of her teeth knocked out, and they called her for the foul,” before sarcastically adding, “Sick league @CathyEngelbert.”
The disputable call came in the midst of a crowd that already held significant animosity towards Cunningham over her past comments on trans athletes.
The Fever guard was loudly booed throughout the night as the fallout from her recent comments on trans athletes in women’s sports continued. Both the supporters and opponents of her opinions were gathered outside the Target Center for another rally, marking the third consecutive Fever game to attract demonstrations.
Of course, given the backlash, everyone wants to know how the locker-room atmosphere is. Finally, Caitlin Clark cleared the air.
“I think we’re excellent,” Clark said on how they were handling the outside noise. “I think it’s for leagues and governing bodies to work with their athletes to find solutions. Our focus is on basketball. That’s what we talk about and how we can get wins, and obviously we didn’t do that tonight.”
That being said, on the scoreboard side, it was another memorable night for Minnesota. They pulled off a 108-100 victory and stretched their win streak to 10 games, which is the franchise’s longest since 2016. It was an offensive showcase for both sides, with each shooting 57% from the field and combining for 55 assists.
The Fever, no matter the boos raining on them, refused to go away. After falling behind by 14 points through the fourth quarter, they responded with a 16-4 burst to cut the deficit by just two points at 100-98. However, unlucky for them, when a comeback seemed possible, rookie Olivia Miles and Courtney Williams came up with the baskets Minnesota needed to put the game away.
This is not the first time that officiating has come under scrutiny in the WNBA this season. The infamous Caitlin Clark- Alyssa Thomas incident is still fresh in memory. Thomas’s fist to Clark’s throat went uncalled on the court. Thomas was only later awarded a flagrant foul 2 for this incident and suspended for a game, along with a $1000 fine.
Just a couple of days back, with just 17.9 seconds left on the clock, the referees missed an out-of-bounds call involving A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart when the Las Vegas Aces faced the New York Liberty. Replays showed a Liberty ball was given as an Aces possession, despite the ball never touching Stewart as it went out of bounds. Stewart mentioned post-game that even Wilson thought it was a Liberty ball and was seen walking away afterwards.
The league announced plans to combat these structural issues by installing a dedicated WNBA Replay Center. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced a multimillion-dollar investment for this initiative during a press conference during All-Star weekend.
It is intended to provide immediate, high-quality footage to enhance transparency and correct human errors, and the system is expected to be operational by the 2027 season. For now, Daniels and the fans will have to do with the current system, and Sophie Cunningham will hope not to receive elbows to the face on court.