UNCASVILLE—At this time of the season, a nine-day break can mean a couple of things. On the one hand, it gives players a chance to rest and recover from the bumps and bruises—major and minor—accrued over the course of a long season. On the other hand, it can throw a team off its rhythm.
For the Connecticut Sun, the top-seeded team in the WNBA postseason tournament, the first day back in the office seemed to be more a case of the second. The team, in search of its first WNBA championship and coming off a 14-game winning streak, dropped its first game in over a week to the Chicago Sky—the No. 6 seed—101-95 in double overtime before 4,720 fans at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Tuesday night.
Jonquel Jones, who earlier had been named the league’s Most Valuable Player of the regular season, led the Sun with a 26-point, 11-rebound effort, while Brionna Jones (22 points, 10 rebounds) and DeWanna Bonner (13 points, 10 boards) also put up double-doubles for Connecticut. Longtime Sun nemesis Candace Parker led the Sky with a strong all around game (22 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists), with Allie Quigley (19 points), Kahleah Copper (13 points) and Courtney Vandersloot (12 points) also scored in double digits for the visitors. Indeed, Vandersloot, who also grabbed 10 boards and handed out a playoff-record 18 assists, became just the second player in league history to record a triple-double in the playoffs. Former Houston Comets star Sheryl Swoopes was the other player to put up a triple-double in the 2005 playoffs.
The game, which featured 14 lead changes and 15 ties, was tight from start to finish. Chicago led by three at the first turn and took a one-point lead, 47-46, into the locker room at intermission. Chicago maintained a slim lead, 66-63 at the third turn while the Sun came back to win the fourth quarter by three points, sending the game into an extra session.
After both teams scored seven points in the first extra session, Chicago took the second OT period 10-4 for the margin of victory. It was just the fifth double OT game in WNBA playoff history.
“We missed shots, missed assignments, we missed free throws, we missed layups… some things uncharacteristic of us,” said Bonner.
“We had some chances,” added Curt Miller, who was named the WNBA Coach of the Year before game-time. “We took 13 more shots and we took 10 more fould shots. We just weren’t efficient enough tonight offensively to overcome the offensive juggernaut [the Sky] can be and for how much Slooty can really, really influence a game.”
Next game will be on Thursday, and it’s a must-win situation for the Sun, who lost their home-court advantage with the Game 1 loss. “We know we can play better,” Bonner said. “We have to play better or we’re going to be down 0-2.”
Tip-off at the Mohegan Sun Arena is slated for 8 p.m., and the game will be televised on ESPN2.
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