Indiana Fever wing Sophie Cunningham used her Show Me Something podcast to call out the WNBA and commissioner Cathy Engelbert for how star Caitlin Clark is being treated on the court.
Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas appeared to knee Clark in the groin multiple times while scrambling to get the ball with several players from both teams around the six-minute mark of the second quarter of Wednesday’s 111-109 Fever loss.
Thomas then pressed her closed fist into Clark’s neck. Officials did not call a foul of any kind on the play. Thomas received a Flagrant 2 penalty and one-game suspension for “recklessly making contract with her fist to the throat area of Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark,” the league announced Thursday.
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“During real time last night, I did not see that happen,” Cunningham said on the podcast. “None of our team saw that happen. I promise you if we had seen it, we would have had (Clark’s) back. Unfortunately, this type of stuff happens every game to her and the league and the refs do nothing about it.
“You see the videos of cheap shotting C in the throat. They are definitely targeting her and the league and refs do nothing to protect her.”
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Fever’s Cunningham on Clark-Thomas: ‘League, refs do nothing to protect her’
Reporting by Nat Newell and Chloe Peterson, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Nat Newell and Chloe Peterson, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
