WNBA coach Stephanie White is taking heat for her claim that she “didn’t see” a flagrant foul on her star player, Sophie Cunningham, but video of the incident seems to dispute her claim.
White went on an extended rant on Tuesday, telling detractors to “go to hell” for accusing her of not backing her own players. But the accusation seems quite valid because after her star player, Sophie Cunningham, was clotheslined and suffered a flagrant foul by Chicago Sky forward DiJonai Carrington, White’s first comments were in support of Carrington, not her own player, Sophie.
Still, White added another excuse for her initial support of DiJonai Carrington when she insisted that she “didn’t see” the foul against Cunningham when it happened.
During her rant against an “online community” that she claims is “trying to create a fabrication or distortion” of who she is and what she is about, she added, “For those who have anything to say about the play in the last game, I didn’t see the play in real time.”
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But video and still photos of the actual foul against Cunningham seem to show White looking straight at the attack on Cunningham.
Per Libs of TikTok:
White has not responded to the accusations that she must have seen the foul on Cunningham because the photos of the game show her looking right at the action.
Regardless, White still insists that DiJonai Carrington did not “intentionally” go for Cunningham’s neck. But she took direct aim at her detractors, telling them to “go to hell.”
“The reality is, with me, I will always lead with love. I will always lead with grace, I will always lead with humility, and I will always lead with integrity. Doesn’t mean I’ll always get it right,” she ranted on Tuesday. “I’m also human. The hate, the fearmongering, 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. Humility will win, and kindness will win. I stand by them. I’ll always stand by them. Everybody else can go to hell.”
Then, upon finishing her animated statement, she stood up and stormed out of the presser without taking any questions.
But some have wondered. White has long been practically silent about the constant abuse that Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham face on the court at the hands of their WNBA opponents. And when she does infrequently speak up, it is often in the muted tones of soft rebuke.
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