Sophie Cunningham calls out WNBA refs for not protecting Caitlin Clark after starting fight to protect her

Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham threw a jab at the WNBA and its referees Saturday While speaking with reporters about her fiery and physical defense of teammate Caitlin Clark Tuesday against Connecticut Sun players Cunningham called out the league for not protecting Clark during the phenom's young WNBA career Cunningham became a viral sensation over the last week after committing a hard foul on Sun guard Jacy Sheldon who poked Clark in the eye earlier in the contest A brawl between the teams ensued with Cunningham at the center of it for Indiana Cunningham Sheldon and Sun guard Lindsay Allen were ejected from the competition with about seconds left before the Fever took home the mastery CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS COM During that it was just part of the competition I think the refs had a lot to do with that It was a build-up for a couple years now of them just not protecting the star sportsman of the WNBA Cunningham announced At the end of the day I'm going to protect my teammates That's what I do Lack of equal protection for Clark by referees has been one of the WNBA's biggest criticisms since she entered the league last year Clark's rookie year in included several controversial incidents in which Clark was roughed up by opposing players Sometimes referees failed to call a foul sparking fan outrage This season in a loss to the New York Liberty May Clark took contact from New York's Natasha Cloud on the final play of the match Referees did not call a foul prompting Clark to throw her hands up in confusion and she and Cunningham barked at the referees as the challenge ended A replay revealed Cloud pushing her shoulder into Clark's the moment the ball came loose The Fever were down by two and a foul would have sent Clark to the free-throw line with a chance to win the meeting Cunningham is taking matters into her own hands to punish players who get too physical in her opinion with Clark And Cunningham also appears to be keeping referees on their toes WHO IS SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM CAITLIN CLARK'S NEW BODYGUARD TEAMMATEFormer NBA All-Star Joakim Noah who built a reputation as an enforcer during his career while protecting a young Derrick Rose notified Fox News Digital in September he would urge the Fever to get a contestant to protect Clark for If I was the owner of the Indiana Fever I would get a real enforcer in there to protect her Noah communicated Fox News Digital Sometimes I feel like she is getting hit because she is a very talented person But at the end of the day we re in the business of winning games so if I m the owner of the Indiana Fever I m getting a real enforcer in there Cunningham has become a folk hero to multiple and her popularity has skyrocketed in the days since the fight Prior to Tuesday's battle Cunningham had fewer than followers on TikTok At the time of publication she had million on TikTok and that number is only growing She has an estimated increase of more than followers on Instagram since the championship as well with a total of more than at the time of publication With Cunningham earning the nickname the enforcer for the Fever fans counting on her to protect Caitlin Clark can rest easy knowing she is a black belt in the Korean martial art of Taekwondo She earned the black belt at the age of Her father Jim played football at the University of Missouri and she ended up following in her dad's footsteps on the football field A article by the Columbia Missourian announced Cunningham was the first female to ever figure any points for the crew in history when she kicked two of four extra points in place of the team's regular kicker who had torn an ACL Cunningham even handled kickoff duties I was so nervous Cunningham reported the outlet I mean I've never played football before in all my life Right when I got the ball on the opening kickoff I couldn't hear anything I just put the ball down and kicked it Cunningham comes from a family of farmers and credits that upbringing for the person she is in the present day according to five-part feature series by the University of Missouri So much of our success goes back to what we learned here Cunningham reported of working on the farm We loved coming out to the farm to help We unveiled out how to work hard and work together It made us farm strong Follow Fox News Digital s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter