Sophie Cunningham Comes to Caitlin Clark's Defense Again

Sophie Cunningham scored major points with WNBA and Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark and her fans recently, and she's set to score even more after her latest comments.

Cunningham got herself kicked out of the Fever's 88-71 win over the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday after she committed a hard foul on Sun guard Jacy Sheldon.

It was a form of retaliation for Sheldon poking Clark in the eye earlier in the game, which ignited a scuffle between the Fever and Sun and led to Clark getting bumped to the ground by Marina Mabrey.

On Saturday, Cunningham defended Clark again by blaming WNBA referees for things getting out of hand after they failed to protect the league's biggest star from an issue that has been going on for too long.

Sophie Cunningham of the Indiana Fever and Jacy Sheldon of the Connecticut Sun face off during an altercation.

Dylan Buell/Getty Images

"I'm not focused on the extracurricular activities," Cunningham said, per the team's official YouTube channel. "And you know what, during that, it was just part of the game.

"I think the refs had a lot to do with that. It was a buildup for a couple years now of them just not protecting the star player in the WNBA. And so at the end of the day, I’m going to protect my teammates, that’s what I do. And I'm a team player, so it's all good."

Standing up for Clark is not something we see her teammates do, so it was definitely refreshing to see that. Cunningham, who was acquired by Indiana from the Phoenix Mercury as part a of a four-team deal, benefitted greatly from it, also, as she saw an explosion in her popularity immediately.

Moving forward, anyone that wants to mess with Clark is going to have to deal with her new enforcer, Cunningham.

Related: Dick Vitale Admits Only One Player Can Challenge Caitlin Clark