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About SophieIndependent

Her story

A guard from Columbia
who never really left

Sophie Cunningham was born in Columbia, Missouri on 16 August 1996. She went to high school there, played four years of college basketball there, and became the leading scorer in her university's history there. Everything after that — Phoenix, Indianapolis, a broadcast desk — happened somewhere else.
Born
16 Aug 1996
Age
30
Birthplace
Columbia, MO
Height
6‑1
College
Missouri
Team
Indiana Fever

A Missouri household

She grew up in a family for whom the University of Missouri was not an abstraction. Her father, Jim, played football for Missouri and her mother, Paula, competed there in track and field; her older sister Lindsey played basketball for the same programme, and for two seasons they were team-mates. Away from all of it there was a farm about thirty miles east of Columbia, kept by her grandparents, which she has described as her escape from the sport.

She played her high school basketball at Rock Bridge, in Columbia, and won four straight state titles there before being named a McDonald's All-American in 2015. The obvious next step was the one twenty minutes down the road. More on her family.

Four years in Columbia

She started for Missouri from her first season, scoring a school-record 42 points against Wake Forest in her fourth college game, and was SEC Freshman of the Year. Missouri records her as a three-time All-SEC First Team selection; Sports Reference lists four All-SEC honours. In 2019 she became the programme's first All-America, on the AP and USBWA third teams. Over 129 games she averaged 17 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3 assists.

The number she is remembered for arrived on 9 March 2019: 33 points against Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament semifinal, which took her past Joni Davis's programme record of 2,126 points. She finished with 2,187. What the totals do not carry is the role she had grown into by then — physical, loud, and almost always available — and that reputation, more than the scoring, is what followed her into the professional game. The Missouri years go through that period properly.

Phoenix, slowly

The Phoenix Mercury took her thirteenth overall in the second round of the 2019 draft. Nothing about the six seasons that followed was sudden. She was a rookie playing twelve minutes a night, then a shooter who had to prove the shot, and only in 2022 — starting twenty games, averaging 12.6 points — a front-line contributor. In 2023 she started every game she played.

She left Phoenix in February 2025 after 182 games for the franchise. Six seasons in the desert.

Indianapolis

On 2 February 2025 a multi-team deal sent her to the Indiana Fever, and the role changed again: fewer shots, but a higher three-point percentage. She shot 43.2% from three across thirty games, won the Commissioner's Cup with the team, and was then ruled out for the rest of the season in August. Indiana played its post-season without her. In April 2025 Mizzou had announced her for its athletics Hall of Fame, and on 12 September 2025 she was inducted at Mizzou Arena.

She re-signed with Indiana for 2026 on a one-year contract — an outcome she said on her own podcast she had found frustrating, having wanted longer-term stability. She missed one game in June with a right-elbow problem and was back two days later.

2026: a studio desk, a podcast and Sports Illustrated

She took on work away from the court that year. She joined USA Network's WNBA studio coverage as an athlete contributor from April, kept co-hosting the podcast Show Me Something with West Wilson, and made a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit debut in the 2026 issue.

As of 7 September 2026 she is in her eighth WNBA season and second with Indiana, playing off the bench for a team that clinched a playoff place on 22 August. The regular season runs to 24 September and the playoffs begin on 27 September.

Sources: Basketball Reference — Sophie Cunningham, WNBA.com player bio, Mizzou Athletics roster bio and the reporting listed on the sources and methodology page. Checked 8 September 2026.

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