By Colleen White
 |
| Jessica Breland (51) led all scorers with 15 points to lead six Chicago players in double-digits as the Sky topped the Connecticut Sun 96-83. |
UNCASVILLE – As
everyone knows, there are good days, and there are bad days. This happens inprofessional sports, as it does in life. Unfortunately for the Connecticut
Sun—and the 7,761 fans in attendance—Friday night was not one of them at the
Mohegan Sun Arena. Jessica Breland led six Chicago players in double fingers
with 15 points as the Sky used Connecticut’s signature—a flurry at the finish—to
defeat the Sun, 96-83.
Adut Bulgak added 14 points—her career best—while Allie
Quigley added 13, former UConn star Stefanie Dolson and Jordan Hooper chipped
in with 12 points each, and former Rutgers, Phoenix Mercury and New York
Liberty star Cappie Pondexter finished with 12 for Chicago, which at times more
closely resembled the Michael Jordan-era Bulls than the WNBA’s ninth-ranked
team.
Alyssa Thomas led the Sun with 14 points, while Courtney
Williams, Jasmine Thomas and Alex Bentley added 11 apiece for Connecticut,
which dropped just the second game in its last 10 and fell to 20-11. Chicago,
meanwhile, snapped a two-game slide and improved to 12-18—moving to within 1.5
games of Seattle and Dallas for the last playoff spot.
The Sun saw their chance to improve their playoff virtually
disappear, falling three games behind second-place Los Angeles, and looking at
three road games—including its last regular-season game in Los Angeles—to end
the season.
The Sun fell behind from the outset, trailing 19-15 at the
first turn, and going into the locker room down 10, 47-37, at intermission.
With the Sky up 73-59, the Sun cut Chicago’s lead to 10 early in the fourth
period, but the Sky took off on a 12-2 run to put the game on ice, taking a
20-point advantage with just 3:55 remaining in regulation.
“When we looked at this stretch we thought it was going to be really, really difficult when the schedule came out," Sun head coach and GM Curt Miller said after the game. “We almost got through it, but it caught up to us tonight and we looked like the tired team.”
“We just executed,” added Dolson, a former darling of Connecticut hoop fans during her four-year tenure at Storrs. “Offensively we shot 50 percent, which means we are getting good shot and knocking them down. Defensively, we kind of sat down and guarded our man one-on-one which didn’t put us in rotation and then we were able to stay on J.J. [Jonquel Jones] and take her out of the game almost completely which was big for us and ended up with the win.”
“When we looked at this stretch we thought it was going to be really, really difficult when the schedule came out," Sun head coach and GM Curt Miller said after the game. “We almost got through it, but it caught up to us tonight and we looked like the tired team.”
“We just executed,” added Dolson, a former darling of Connecticut hoop fans during her four-year tenure at Storrs. “Offensively we shot 50 percent, which means we are getting good shot and knocking them down. Defensively, we kind of sat down and guarded our man one-on-one which didn’t put us in rotation and then we were able to stay on J.J. [Jonquel Jones] and take her out of the game almost completely which was big for us and ended up with the win.”
The Sky have four games remaining in the regular season—two
of them must-wins against Dallas at home away on Wednesday and the Storm in
Seattle next Sunday—if they have any hope at all in making the postseason.
“They are certainly mathematically not eliminated,” continued Miller. “They know they have to run the table but they are certainly very talented. There are a lot of pros in that locker room, a lot of veteran pros who are going to show up even if they are out of playoff contention. They are a talented team.”
The Sun, who can now forget finishing second and instead focus on protecting their one-game lead over New York, will finish the regular season with a three game road trip: first to Washington where they will take on the Mystics on Tuesday, then to Phoenix where they will challenge Diana Taurasi and the Mercury on Friday, and finally, to LA where they will conclude the regular season against the Sparks next Sunday.
“They are certainly mathematically not eliminated,” continued Miller. “They know they have to run the table but they are certainly very talented. There are a lot of pros in that locker room, a lot of veteran pros who are going to show up even if they are out of playoff contention. They are a talented team.”
The Sun, who can now forget finishing second and instead focus on protecting their one-game lead over New York, will finish the regular season with a three game road trip: first to Washington where they will take on the Mystics on Tuesday, then to Phoenix where they will challenge Diana Taurasi and the Mercury on Friday, and finally, to LA where they will conclude the regular season against the Sparks next Sunday.
—Sophia Boras contributed to this report
No comments:
Post a Comment