Sophie Cunningham makes Fever debut, thrilling fans in win vs Mystics

INDIANAPOLIS — Throughout her six years in Phoenix, Sophie Cunningham developed a nickname: “Spicy Sophie.”

She became known for her flair on the court, her celebrations after big shots and being an aggressive, physical player — which even led to a signature cocktail, the “Spicy Sopharita,” being served at Mercury games.

Cunningham was traded to the Fever as part of a four-team trade in February and played her first game in a Fever uniform Saturday afternoon in their preseason opener against the Mystics.

And she lived up to that nickname in her first outing.

About halfway through the second quarter, Cunningham got tangled up with Mystics rookie Kiki Iriafen while they were going for a rebound. Iriafen leaned forward, which caused Cunningham to fall to the ground. Cunningham immediately popped up and turned back to Iriafen, repeating “you can’t (expletive) do that,” and she was quickly separated by the referees. 

Iriafen got a flagrant 1 foul after the review.

That foul, and the ensuing free throws from Cunningham and Fever possession, prompted a 17-5 run that brought the Fever from down 15 to a three-point deficit at halftime. Cunningham was the one to bring the energy during that run, scoring five of the Fever’s first seven points and locking the Mystics down defensively.

“That’s just kind of who I am,” Cunningham said. “I want to pour into my team as much as possible. And I’m pretty in tune with my body. I can read a room pretty well, and so when I see we’re lacking a little bit, you have to step up. But if we’re good, you know, you’re just there to encourage and give people confidence.”

Cunningham was the spark for the Fever, who were missing Caitlin Clark because of a leg injury, on Saturday afternoon. She brought energy off the bench, hyping up the crowd and playing a team-high 35 minutes in the Fever’s 79-74 overtime win.

She scored a game-high 21 points, adding on eight rebounds and two assists for a +/- of 16.

“Sophie’s a dawg,” Fever coach Stephanie White said. “She’s a competitor. She’s versatile. She allows us to do different things. She plays with such toughness. She’s huge, and she’s going to be for us all season long. What she brings, from an energy standpoint, she raises the level of play of everybody around her as soon as she steps foot on the floor, hell, even on the sideline. I mean, her communication, everything, she’s definitely an X factor.” 

A lot of that spark, too, comes from the crowd, which Cunningham said was the “sixth man” Saturday afternoon. Cunningham made sure to work the crowd when she could, celebrating her 3-pointers with three fingers in the air, yelling to the crowd after she forced a Mystics turnover or flapping her arms up when the Mystics called a timeout.

It’s a privilege to have a crowd like that; over 12,000 people came out for a preseason WNBA game. It’s even more of a privilege for Cunningham for those fans to be on her side.

“As an energy player, you got to get your fans involved,” Cunningham said. “That’s our sixth man, right? And they’re loud, they’re feisty, they’re sassy, and it’s like when you get them involved, then it’s game over, right? You’re in the other team’s head … I’ve been on the other end of it, and it sucked. Now that I’m here, I can embrace it.”

Not every performance can be perfect, either, and Cunningham isn’t one to get defensive. If she’s not playing well, whether it’s defensively or other aspects of the game, she doesn’t have any problem with anyone calling it out. She hopes that’s something her teammates and coaches will do for each other, too.

It’s the type of culture the Fever hope to have; one where the players are in tune with themselves and their teammates, where they know what will be best for the team — even if it doesn’t include them.

“I think when you really do have really, really good people, and you guys all have a common goal that you’re trying to get to, that no one takes offense to anything, right?” Cunningham said. “I think in a couple of those huddles, they were like, ‘Soph, you’ve got to get better on defense,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, you’re right.’ And so it’s constantly communicating, and it’s not being defensive. Everyone’s just trying to help.”

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