DiJonai Carrington's ejection undercuts the Sky in a 90-86 loss to the Fever

Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune on Aug 8, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

CHICAGO — Chicago Sky guard DiJonai Carrington blasted the Indiana Fever on social media after being ejected from Saturday’s 90-86 loss at the United Center for a hard foul on Sophie Cunningham.

The foul occurred with two minutes remaining in the first quarter when Carrington chased down Cunningham from behind on a breakaway layup. Carrington made no contact with the ball when she swiped down, hitting Cunningham in the face with her forearm and knocking her to the ground. Cunningham was restrained by teammate Makayla Timpson after the play while exchanging words with Carrington.

The referees immediately assessed a flagrant foul to Carrington. After review, the foul was upgraded to a Flagrant 2, which resulted in Carrington’s ejection from the game. Although Cunningham made contact with Carrington during the brief scuffle after the play, she was not assessed a technical foul.

Cunningham made the ensuing flagrant free throw and play continued normally. But the Sky, who were leading when the foul occurred, couldn’t rebound from the loss of Carrington, who scored eight points in fewer than four minutes before her ejection. Cunningham finished with three points in 28 minutes.

Meanwhile, Carrington took to social media from the locker room to criticize the ejection, firing off a post on Threads that read “white privilege” in all capital letters and tagged the Indiana Fever’s official account. Carrington posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, during the second half, sharing the date of the teams’ next matchup — Aug. 23 — with a smiley face emoji.

Coach Tyler Marsh said he was not aware of either post immediately following the game.

Cunningham and the Fever drew headlines in recent weeks due to the guard’s outspokenness on issues regarding the inclusion of transgender athletes in sports. Both Marsh and veteran guard Rachel Banham said the Sky did not discuss the topic in the build-up to Saturday’s game and did not ascribe Carrington’s foul or the ensuing conflict to off-the-court issues.

“We’re fighting for our lives to try to make the playoffs,” Marsh said. “DiJonai is a passionate player, just like most of our players on our team. Obviously you want to protect the safety of all players, but I think when it pertains to this game individually, we didn’t come into this one with any more or less juice than we’ve had the last four since the All-Star break. … You hope that Sophie’s OK and that nobody’s severely injured. I don’t think there is ill intent.”

Billed as a highlight for the WNBA’s “Rivals Week,” the teams maintained a contentious edge for the remainder of the game.

Fever guard Caitlin Clark and head coach Stephanie White received technical fouls in the third quarter, which allowed the Sky to cut the Fever’s lead to five points. Clark’s technical foul was her eighth of the season, triggering an automatic one-game suspension due to accumulation. Sky guard Natasha Cloud also earned a technical foul for arguing a foul from the bench in the fourth quarter.

After falling into multiple double-digit deficits, the Sky managed to cut the lead to a single possession in the clutch, but could not find a final answer to pull ahead. Saturday’s game ultimately marked Chicago’s eighth consecutive loss to the Fever.

With a crowd of 16,065 fans, it was the fourth scheduled regular-season game the Sky has played at the United Center in anticipation of drawing a larger audience. The Sky are now 0-4 in those games.

____