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Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham made a passionate statement about the state of the team as it deals with Caitlin Clark’s injuries and tries to keep the season from spiraling.
Cunningham spoke to reporters about being the team that everyone in the league has circled on their calendars before their win over the Dallas Wings on Friday.
It was the second night of a back-to-back as they came off of a loss to the Los Angeles Sparks.
“I think so far this season, we’ve had a lot of distractions. Some injuries. Don’t know who’s playing. Just a lot of distractions. But I think that’s really good for us,” she said, via the Indy Star. “Let’s go through the adversity early. Let’s learn from it. Good news is we’re not going to peak too early, so I mean, that’s a positive. It’s not an excuse. Everyone’s playing a back-to-back. Everyone has this kind of rough schedule. For us, we get another opportunity tomorrow, and we’ve got to capitalize on it. Dallas is a team that’s hungry for a win.
“We’ve talked about this, we’re circled on everybody’s schedule. No one likes us, right? So, everyone in our locker room? That’s the only type of people that we have that we can lean on. We’ve got to be better in that area. We have got to stay disciplined, we have to stay focused, we need to get consistent and we’ve got to lean on each other. I think that we’ve kind of wavered a little bit on that. We have our own islands.”
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Cunningham added that the tough schedule was “just an excuse” and that she had to do a better job for her teammates.
She then had five points and four assists on Friday as the Fever defeated the Wings, 94-86.
The WNBA schedule has become a tension point with some players.
New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart spoke about the problems of a 44-game schedule earlier this month.
“We want to play the games, especially if that’s what is wanted for TV and having these sellout arenas,” she said. “I think the hardest part is no matter what, when I was playing 36 games or 32 games, it was in the same amount of time as 44 games.
“I know on both ends between April and October there’s things happening. But I think that’s one of the biggest talking points in the next CBA is like, alright, how can we make it so teams aren’t playing four (games) in six (days) three times in a season and continuing to have the rest and recovery so we are at our best. It’s tough, it’s a tough thing.”
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