INDIANAPOLIS — Days and days of discourse led to a breaking point for Stephanie White on Tuesday.
During Saturday’s game against the Sky, Fever guard Sophie Cunningham was on the receiving end of a hard foul from Dijonai Carrington that led to the latter’s ejection. Since that moment, the discussion has been about anything but basketball, including a vocal minority criticizing White for not doing enough to defend her player in the postgame press conference.
All that led to White’s pregame press conference against the Liberty in which she spoke for nearly two-and-a-half minutes mostly uninterrupted, touching on her eagerness to defend her players while looking to set aside narratives created on social media as well as denouncing the hate that has been prevalent in the conversations.
“This isn’t necessarily for those people that are in this room,” White began. “This is more for an online community that’s trying to create narratives that simply don’t exist. Trying to create a fabrication or distortion of who I am, of what I’m about. Our players’ success, our players’ health and wellness, our players’ 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,” White continued. “When you have a chance to watch that over and 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 player’s 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. Because they are fucking playing.
“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. 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. Humility will win and kindness will win. I stand by them. I will always stand by them. Everybody else can go to hell.”
White did not take any questions, instead leaving the presser after making her thoughts known, a statement in itself as well. Team President Kelly Krauskopf also released a statement in support of White.
“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. 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.”
It’s not entirely clear if there was any particular comment or moment that led White to feel the need to make the statement. The noise surrounding the Fever, though, is always louder than most and even a vocal minority can feel deafening at times.
The Fever are no strangers, even this season, to having small situations blow up into big stories. It’s become the byproduct of having Caitlin Clark and, thus a large microscope, on the team.
Still, as White pointed out in her comments, this comes at a time when the Fever are playing well. Saturday’s win was their 10th in the last 14 games, bringing their record to 20-12. Since the start of July, only the Valkyries, Lynx and Mystics have better records.
Indiana is playing some of its best basketball of the season as the postseason ticks closer and closer. And for White, a focus on that and not everything else is the desire.
