INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Fever players knew one thing on Tuesday night: they were going to win this game for their head coach.
Stephanie White used her pregame press conference to make a three-minute impassioned speech denouncing online narratives around the team and league, specifically concerning people’s reaction to her saying she didn’t think Sky guard DiJonai Carrington’s flagrant 2 foul on Fever guard Sophie Cunningham during Saturday’s game was a result of Carrington intentionally going after Cunningham’s head.
White said that she’s “10 toes down” for her players, and that “hate, the fearmongering, the divisiveness, the stuff that’s trying to hijack our league will not win.”
White has been facing a lot of scrutiny as the Fever’s head coach, even after leading her team to wins in seven of their last nine games and winning WNBA Coach of the Month for July. Despite that success, she received a swath of boos from fans at Gainbridge Fieldhouse when she was announced Tuesday night.
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“I told her that before the game, like, there was no way we were losing this game for her,” Fever guard Caitlin Clark said following the Fever’s 106-92 win over the Liberty. “And, you know, it’s tough. Like that’s my head coach. I hated that our fans booed her before the game. That made me a little sick, to be honest. You can disagree and this and that, and I get it. It’s professional sports, people are going to boo, but at the end of the day, that’s our head coach, and we’re going to ride for her.”
Cunningham, who said following the Fever-Sky game on Saturday that she thought Carrington intentionally fouled her across the face, said she had no problem with what White said about that foul during Saturday’s postgame press conference.
White, who coached Carrington from 2023-24 in Connecticut, said on Saturday: “I don’t think DiJonai intentionally came out to get her across the neck like she did, but it did happen, and I thought (ejection) was the right call.”
White then clarified in Tuesday’s pregame availability that she did not see the play in real time and called the foul “egregious” after she watched it.
“Our locker room in there, it’s tight, and we have each other’s backs,” Cunningham said postgame. “Coach loves us. She didn’t see the clip. And you know what, DiJonai is a hell of a player, she’s a great defender, and (White) coached her for I don’t know how many years up in Connecticut, so give her her flowers, and she didn’t see it, and that’s okay. Me and Steph are great. Steph is great with all of us, and so it’s really the outside noise that’s trying to distract us. But we’re good.”
Indiana has dealt with a lot of outside noise this season, including an apparent argument between Clark and White on the bench in Portland that went viral and multiple rallies against transgender women’s participation in sport before Fever games sparked by comments Cunningham made in an ESPN article published last month.
“I think we forget a lot of times that we’re human, and (White) has feelings, and there’s moments that are really hard,” Clark said. “Sometimes that’s just the job you sign up for, but at the same time, it’s OK to feel those emotions, and I just told her, like, I’ve been through the same thing. There’s been days where I’ve been really upset, and you can have the thickest skin in the world, but sometimes it does get to you.”
Now, White wants fans to shift the conversation back to basketball. She wants to talk about how well her team has been playing, how they’re orchestrating the best offense in the league and the momentum they have going into the final stretch of the season.
“These women are playing incredible basketball, and they deserve to be celebrated for that,” White said postgame. “And I give them a ton of credit. Winners focus on winning, and that’s what they’re doing. They’re winners in that locker room. They pull for each other. You guys are here a lot, you see it’s good vibes. It’s everybody else that wants to divide us, our team, our league. As somebody who’s been around for a long, long time in this league, I’m tired of it. And I know that we as teams stand united in how we feel about this, and we’ve just got to stay the course.”
Chloe Peterson is the Indiana Fever beat reporter for IndyStar. Reach her at chloe.peterson@indystar.com. Get IndyStar’s Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter. Subscribe to IndyStar TV: Fever for in-depth analysis, behind-the-scenes coverage and more.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Clark, Cunningham denounce criticism of Fever coach Stephanie White: ‘We’re going to ride for her’
Reporting by Chloe Peterson, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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By Chloe Peterson, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
