Sky take over in 3rd quarter, knock off Sun
Behind a dominant second half, the Chicago Sky rolled to their fourth consecutive win and handed the Connecticut Sun their first Commissioner's Cup loss Thursday, 81-75, in Chicago.
The Sky (6-7) trailed much of the first half and went into halftime down five points, but took control with a 28-19 third quarter. Chicago extended its lead to as many as 14 points in the fourth quarter with a combination of aggressive defense and balanced offense.
Kahleah Copper led five Sky players in double-figures scoring with 18 points, two of which started a 14-5 Chicago run early in the third quarter. That burst, followed by another 9-3 run, turned a nine-point deficit into a four-point Sky lead in a little more than seven minutes.
Courtney Vandersloot, who on Tuesday became just the fourth player in WNBA history with 2,000-plus career assists, dished 10 on Thursday. She recorded a double-double with 12 points.
Diamond DeShields scored 13 points and grabbed six rebounds, and Candace Parker posted 15 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
Allie Quigley rounded out Chicago's double-figure scoring with 11 points off the bench.
Connecticut (8-4) dropped its second straight game playing without Jonquel Jones, an early-season leader for Most Valuable Player.
Jasmine Thomas picked up the scoring load on Thursday with a game-high 20 points, and Brionna Jones grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds to go with nine points, but the Sun could not overcome 14 turnovers and a 40.3 percent night shooting from the floor. They made 4 of 13 on 3-pointers.
Natisha Hiedeman came off the bench to score 13 points. Kaila Charles scored 15 points in the loss, but was limited to just 25 minutes due to foul trouble.
--Field Level Media
