The Indiana Fever return home Thursday looking to bounce back after Sunday’s 108-100 loss to the Minnesota Lynx.
While Indiana extended its 100-point scoring streak to six games, the defeat snapped the team’s five-game winning streak. The Fever also dropped to 19-11, leaving them fifth in the WNBA standings with 14 regular-season games remaining.
As it has been the case in recent weeks, much of the headlines during and after the game centered around Sophie Cunningham’s comments on transgender athletes. The veteran guard was subject to booing each time she touched the ball. Television cameras also showed Cunningham having a lengthy conversation with Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve before tipoff.
Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images via Reuters Connect
Speaking during Wednesday’s practice, Cunningham praised Reeve for approaching her in person.
“I respect her for coming up in person. A lot of people hide behind screens,” Cunningham said. “She had stories about her point of view and I had stories about my point of view. We left with love and respect” (via Forbes Sports’ Tony East).
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Reeve also described the conversation positively after Sunday’s game, saying both wanted to better understand each other’s perspective.
Despite the off-court distraction, Cunningham has put together one of the best seasons of her career. Primarily coming off the bench, she is averaging 9.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 29 games. She is also shooting 45.2% from three-point range, the second best mark in the WNBA this season, and 48.2% from the field.
Cunningham will try to help the Fever return to winning ways on Thursday. Indiana enters the matchup at 19-11, two games behind the second-place Aces (21-9), with 14 games left in the regular season.
