![\"Sophie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274209008-e1778595530139.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Fever coach Stephanie White has plans for Sophie Cunningham.<\/p>\n
The Indiana Fever<\/a> opened the season with a 107-104 loss against the Dallas Wings. Despite reaching triple digits in scoring, they could not consistently get enough stops when the game tightened late.<\/p>\n Caitlin Clark<\/a> did what she does best, finishing with 20 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists. Kelsey Mitchell paced the Fever with 30 points. But Sophie Cunningham\u2019s offensive presence was lacking. She ended the game with just 3 points. Fever coach Stephanie White expects to see more of her in the action up front.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought she was good. Sophie\u2019s solid for us on the defensive end,\u00a0rebounding, her activity level, her communication.\u00a0We\u2019ve got to find her more, though,\u201d she said<\/a>. \u201cShe\u2019s a knockdown three-point shooter. I thought we missed her a lot.\u00a0We missed her open looks.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s getting back to being an elite cutter,\u00a0because she\u2019s also a very good cutter. And she\u2019s a great ball mover.\u00a0So we\u2019ve just got to get her more touches on the offensive end\u00a0and just continue to rely on her to be that communicator\u00a0and leader for us on the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n When Clark and Mitchell are forcing defenses to collapse, Indiana needs a third perimeter threat who can make the next pass, hit open threes and keep possessions flowing. Cunningham fits that mold.<\/p>\n She averaged 8.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists last season, playing 30 games. She has primarily stayed back on attacks, but White wants her to take a more active role this season.<\/p>\n Stephanie White\u2019s Plans for Lexie Hull After Return from Injury GettyLexie Hull returns to active play after injury.<\/p>\n Lexie Hull returned to action on Saturday after missing out on all of three pre-season games due to hamstring tightness. The team is taking a cautious approach. She was allowed time on the court, but it was restricted. She is a critical part of the defense and Coach White is not willing to lose her to the bench by putting more pressure this early in the season.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it was 10 to 15 or something that Lexie had. So we don\u2019t want to push it.\u00a0We want to make sure that we\u2019re ready and healthy,\u201d she said. \u201cAs our players get back, I think we have four or five players\u00a0on minutes restrictions. So as we start to get back and really solidify our rotations,\u00a0it\u2019ll be helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n Hull was a steady two-way piece for Indiana last season, setting career highs with 7.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 44 games, including 30 starts and the Fever rewarded that production with a two-year, $1,56 million extension this offseason.<\/p>\n Stephanie White\u2019s Plan for the Upcoming Road Game at Los Angeles GettyHead coach Stephanie White reacts to in-game play.<\/p>\n Up next, Indiana plays the Los Angeles Sparks, who themselves are coming off a loss at the hands of the Las Vegas Aces.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to clean up some of the things that we had breakdown-wise\u00a0on the defensive end against Dallas, and we\u2019ll look to clean it up against L.A,\u201d White informed.<\/p>\n The defensive issues from the opener have to be corrected quickly.<\/p>\n \u201cWe still got to be better in terms of our ball movement\u00a0and player movement,\u201d the Fever coach added. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to be willing passers, reverse the ball,\u00a0get multiple touches on the floor, get some paint touches. We\u2019re still pretty much in our infancy level in terms of playing together.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDibyendu Mondal<\/a> Dibyendu Mondal is a contributor for Heavy Sports with special focus on golf, football, basketball and soccer. With more than two years of experience, he has managed to reach close to 7 million people through his writing. He previously worked as a contributor for Athlon Sports and Sportskeeda. More about Dibyendu Mondal<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Fever coach Stephanie White has plans for Sophie Cunningham. The Indiana Fever opened the season with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-638909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Lexie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274768190.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Stephanie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274227580.jpg\")
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