Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White did not take questions during her media session ahead of her team’s game against the New York Liberty on Tuesday. Instead, White delivered an impassioned statement in which she defended her relationship with her players, revised her opinion on DiJonai Carrington’s “egregious” flagrant foul on Sophie Cunningham and mentioned that “the hate, the fear-mongering, the divisiveness, the stuff that’s trying to hijack our league will not win.”
Carrington’s Flagrant 2 foul on Cunningham during Indiana’s win over the Chicago Sky on Saturday was the just in high-profile incident in what has been a tumultuous summer for the Fever and the entire WNBA. White was caught in the fallout when she received significant criticism online for her postgame comments about the incident.
After Saturday’s game, White mentioned that Carrington is going to “play her butt off” and “nobody is gonna go walking in for a layup.” She added that she did not oppose the hard foul, and that she didn’t think Carrington “intentionally went for the neck.”
On Tuesday, White mentioned that after watching replays of Carrington’s foul, she thought it was “egregious.”
Here are White’s full comments on Tuesday:
“This isn’t necessarily for people that are in this room. This is more for an online community that is trying to create narratives that simply don’t exist. Trying to create a fabrication or distortion of who I am and what I’m about. Our player’s success, our player’s health and wellness, our player’s safety, is always a top priority for me. One of the things I pride myself on is my relationships with players.
For those who have anything to say about the play in the last game. I didn’t see the play in real time. I went straight to a press conference. I thought the play got called right. Thankfully Sophie’s OK. Was it egregious? Absolutely. When you have a chance to watch that over and over on replay, you can see that. I didn’t have that in real time. I take personally any suggestions that I don’t 100% always have my players back. I ride with them 10 toes down all the time. All the time. They know that.
“It’s a shame that we can’t have an opportunity to talk about what great basketball they’re playing. Beacuse they are f—ing playing. The reality is with me, I will always lead with love. I will always lead with grace. I will always lead with humilty. And I will always lead with integrity. It doesn’t mean I will always get it right. I’m also human.
“The hate, the fear-mongering, the divisiveness, the stuff that’s trying to hijack our league will not win. It won’t win. We are united. We are connected. We will not be divided. Every day these women put their ass on the line. Every day. When they go low, we go high. Love will win. Grace will win. Humilty will win. And kindness will win. I stand by them. I will always stand by them. Everybody else can go to hell.”
Stephanie White with an opening statement that was her entire pregame media session today: pic.twitter.com/mY1BtVTQ2u
— Tony East (@TonyREast) August 11, 2026
White received a technical foul for arguing with the officials during Saturday’s game after a controversial technical foul was given to Caitlin Clark for making contact with an official. It was the eighth technical foul of the season for Clark, but it was quickly rescinded upon league review. Had the foul stood, Clark would have served a one-game suspension and missed Tuesday night’s game.
Fever president Kelly Krauskopf mentioned in a statement that White has the “full support” of team leadership.
“Coach White has done a tremendous job leading the Fever and for the second consecutive season, has us in great position for a playoff push,” Krauskopf mentioned. “She has kept our team focused and united, all while under the brightest spotlight our team and our league have ever experienced. She has the full support of leadership.”
Carrington, for her part, spoke at length about the incident on Monday prior to the Sky’s loss to the Seattle Storm. She mentioned that the foul was “never intentional,” but declined to explain her since-deleted social media post in which she wrote “WHITE PRIVILEGE” while tagging the Fever’s team account from the locker room following the ejection.
DiJonai Carrington says Sophie Cunningham foul was not intentional, declines to explain ‘white privilege’ post
Jack Maloney
Cunningham, who has been embroiled in her own controversy in recent weeks due to her comments about transgender athletes, did not speak pre-game on Tuesday.
Amid all of the drama, the Fever have been playing their best basketball of the season. They’ve won eight of their last 11 games to climb into fifth place at 20-12, and have a chance to take sole possession of fourth place with a win over the red-hot Liberty, winners of four straight.
