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No Caitlin Clark, but fever victory as Sophie Cunningham Trends Online

No Caitlin Clark, but fever victory as Sophie Cunningham Trends Online

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Indianapolis – Mystics Rookie Kiki Irafen threw fever veteran Sophie Cunningham to the ground, and then Brittney Sykes Cunningham pushed to the ground. It was only the first half of the first pre -season game for the fever of 2025 Indiana, but they had to ask themselves: Could the noise to be the WNBA franchise in our city, which reached a fever place last season, become even more feverish?

After a pre -season game, it seemed possible, which of course went into the extension – end result: Fever 79, Mystics 74 – and trented nationally on X, even if Fever star Caitlin Clark put it in her left leg.

Here is what is likely:

The fever fan base, which sometimes felt like the country's largest fan base, has another reason to love their team.

And a year ago, the anti-fever quota contingent that felt like the country's biggest fan base and seemed to have found another reason to root against our team.

Her name is Sophie Cunningham and now let us be clear about something: on Saturday she did nothing wrong in Gainbridge Fieldhouse where Fever fans came closer to the filling of the arena in the previous season than Indiana Pacers fans. The relationship between this city and this team was noticeable a year ago and, if at all, grown. The dedication for Fever games elsewhere also has whether there are fans in other cities to cheer or dig up.

Set it out like this:

According to Stubhub, an online ticket broker, Fever games remain the hottest ticket in the WNBA. Not a big surprise – remember the demand for fever cards last season? But you get the following: According to Stubhub, the demand for fever games has increased by almost 500% compared to this time in the previous year.

It doesn't even seem possible, right? A year ago, WNBA teams moved against the fever to the largest arenas in the city and were still sold out. What now? Moving Fever games in Domed NFL stadiums?

Probably not, no. But let's see what happens to Sophie Cunningham. After what happened on Saturday, everything seems possible.

Kiki Irials against Sophie Cunningham: Huh?

At the beginning of the second quarter, it looked personally how Kiki Irials baked her arms around Sophie Cunningham under the basket and threw the smaller player onto the square. Cunningham seemed to think, came on the feet and approached Irish when cameras said: “Don't do it (Miesed), you don't do that.”

It looked personally a few minutes later when the Mystics Wachmann Brittney Sykes Cunningham grabbed the scale and threw them on the square and then slowly approached them. The fever's teammate, Dewanna Bonner, seemed to think this, hit Sykes on the way and clapped her face and said something that looked very similar: “None!”

Was it personally how Cunningham was thrown around by two different mystics for a few minutes? She is a fiery player to express it mildly, the kind of players who love fans, cheer or boo, depending on the jersey she wears. One of her nicknames: “Spicy Sophie.”

An anecdote of Saturday: When Sykes dives, Cunningham picks him up and paradves it triumphantly with a big, harmless smile on her face before he puts it again. Another anecdote: Cunningham hits a 3 pointer and raises three fingers for the crowd. Another: After a mystics turnover, Cunningham hits his arms to be more human noise and call: “Come on !!!”

Two weeks ago, the deputy Missouri assistant Liza Fruendt-Cunningham tweeted for the 2015-19 Tigers when the state played for the state of Missouri:

“Soph and I had some battles in college. She was always someone you hated it, but want to secretly want to play this program together.”

When “Sophie Cunningham” was the number 3 trend topic nationwide for more than an hour on Saturday, thousands of people decided that Kiki Irafen was an American hero. Thousands of others decided that Cunningham was her new favorite player.

Quite soon, “Sophie Cunningham” was replaced by the name of another player as No. 3 trend topic:

“Kiki Ireaven.”

Seriously, that happened on Saturday afternoon.

Will that happen all the season? Again? The last season was exhausting, regardless of whether they went to Fever games or not because the national noise was just … too much. It began with the fascination of all Caitlin Clark, who was like the Pete Maravich-like style, who came by Maravich to become a hit ever in NCAA Division I, but this fascination turned into cities near and wide.

Interest in Clark has not subsided, the fever, which is available this season on national television 41 out of 44 games in the league-high-high high-high high. Her game on Saturday against the mystics was broadcast on television in the NBA TV and it was an exhibition. The fever should play the Brazilian national team on Sunday in the Carver Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.

This game is shown live on ESPN.

Everyone wants to watch Caitlin Clark. And now they want to see Sophie Cunningham.

In the meantime, this is a team sport. And the team has the Indiana fever.

Doyel: 2025 WNBA final will take place in October. Delete your calendar after the fever's low season

What's next: Fever in the Hawkeye Carver Arena for Caitlin Clark Homecoming game

Fever won without Caitlin Clark

The first ownership of the game pushed the fever to the square and designs a piece for Aliyah Boston to shoot a corner 3. In two WNBA play times Boston is 11: 36 on 3-converter, but she triggered it in the game for 21 seconds. If Boston adds this to her game-the 2023 WNBA-ROOKIE of the year and the two-time all-star last season an average of 14 points, 8.9 rebounds and 3.2 assists.

Another end of the court. Opening minute. Mystics Emily Engstler's strikers attack the edge, and Boston casually blocks him out of the borders. Moments later Sykes tries the same. Another block for Boston, which had an average of 1.3 blocks last season, but had two on Saturday in 2½ minutes. If she wants to add more of The To your game … be careful.

The fever has already added so much. The two-time WNBA champion and the future Hall of Famer Dewanna Bonner achieved an average of 15 points and six rebounds per game for the Connecticut Sun last season and wanted to come here in the free agency. The three-time WNBA champion and former defensive player of the year Natasha Howard (17.6 ppg, 6.7 RPG, 2.9 APG).

Bonner and Howard-Die on Saturday for 20 points, 12 rebounds and so much defensive pressure-come together with Boston, 2024 Rookie of the Year Clark (19.2 ppg, 5.7 RPG, WNBA-OFF 8.4 APG) and twice all-Star Kelsey-Mitell (19.2 ppg).

Everyone except Clark played on Saturday, and that was enough to gather the fever from a deficit in the first half of 15 points to defeat the mystics. The fever received 21 points from Cunningham, 13 from Lexie Hull, 12 from Mitchell and 11 from Howard.

This season is the fever with such a stacked squad that you may not be able to fit into the full addition of the players (12) below the salary limit. You have current or youngest all-stars at all five starting positions and you have a bank with Sophie Cunningham (career high: 36 points) and a first-class trainer in Stephanie White, and you wonder if what we saw on Saturday-a exciting comeback victory against the mystic is going to happen all the time.

You wonder what else will happen this season. And if it will happen all the time again.

Find the Indystar columnist Gregg Doyel Topicsor on Bluesky and Twitter at @Greggdoyelstaror with www.facebook.com/gegggdoyelstar. Subscribe to the free weekly newspaper Doyel on request Newsletter.

More: Connect the text discussion with the sports columnist Gregg Doyel to get insights, reader questions and doyels pees behind the curtain.

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