Sophie Cunningham speaks out against DiJonai Carrington after flagrant foul and 'White privilege' post

Sophie Cunningham spoke out against Chicago Sky star DiJonai Carrington after the Fever's 90-86 win on Saturday.

Carrington was ejected from the game in the first half after smacking Cunningham across the face during Cunningham's layup attempt.

"Clearly, I think it was like unnecessary. I've never really spoken to her and have no beef with her, but I guess she has some pent up stuff. So get your s--- off. That's fine. I can take it... Yeah, it's intentional," Cunningham said, per ESPN's Kareem Copeland on X.

DIJONAI CARRINGTON DECLARES 'WHITE PRIVILEGE' AFTER EJECTION FOR SMACKING SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM IN THE FACE

"She has no reason to be doing any of that. So good way to get her kicked out. I don't even know her. She wasn't even on the team last year when all that was going on. But I do think when people play the Fever, we're nationally televised, there's a lot of eyes on us and people just want attention. And that's her just trying to get attention."

After the foul, Cunningham and Carrington were seen getting in each other's faces and yelling, as referees had to separate them.

"I wasn't even upset. I mean, I popped up. I'm not going to let anyone just do that to me. I think everyone knows that. I think that's why she did it because she wants attention," Cunningham said. "I mean, s---, like, people have started craving attention. Like, go get it somewhere else. Go do something good in the world, I don't know. Yeah, I popped up and [Makayla Timpson] had my back."

After Carrington's ejection, she went on Threads and wrote "White Privilege" and tagged the Indiana Fever. Cunningham rejected Carrington's suggestion that the ejection had anything to do with race.

"I think the league is taking care of that. This has nothing to do with race. Last year, I did the same thing and I got kicked out. And I deserved to be kicked out. There's no reason even to play that card," Cunningham added.

Meanwhile, Cunningham's own coach, Stephanie White, defended Carrington in the post-game press conference, while agreeing the flagrant foul and ejection was the right call.

"Yeah, I mean, look, it was a hard foul. I don't think that DiJonai intentionally came out to get her across the neck like she did. But it did happen and I thought it was the right call. But you know, one of the things about Nay is that she's gonna play her butt off, man. She's gonna compete. Nobody's gonna go walking in for a layup. And so, I don't oppose the hard foul. But I also don't think that she intentionally went for the neck," White said.

White declined to comment on Carrington's "White privilege" post.

White previously coached Carrington when both were with the Connecticut Sun in 2023-24. In the 2024 playoffs, Carrington poked Fever phenom Caitlin Clark in the eye.

Carrington's current coach, Sky coach Tyler Marsh, also defended Carrington and said he believed it wasn't a flagrant foul in the moment.

"In the moment, I thought that she made a play on a ball. I didn't think it warranted a flagrant 2, I didn't see it in the replay. So that was my initial thoughts," Marsh said. "I haven't looked at that play since, so I really don't know if it was justified or not."

Marsh also declined to comment on Carrington's "White privilege" post. He also rejected the notion that Car