Sky hold off Sun, set franchise win record
CHICAGO - Candace Parker scored 18 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and tipped a pass to Emma Meesseman for a 3-pointer in the closing seconds to help the Sky beat the Connecticut Sun 94-91 Sunday to set the franchise record for wins in a season.
Courtney Vandersloot had 20 points, 5 assists and 4 steals for the Sky (25-8). Meesseman and Allie Quigley added 15 points apiece and Kahleah Copper scored 11.
Alyssa Thomas made a driving layup with 4:37 left in the third quarter to give the Sun - who trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half - their first lead at 58-56 and Odyssey Sims capped a 10-0 run with a driving layup that gave Connecticut a 75-69 lead early in the fourth.
Vandersloot made two 3-pointers as the Sky scored 15 of the next 19 points before DeWanna Bonner converted a four-point play and then found Thomas for a layup to make it 89-all with 43.6 seconds to go but Parker, in the post, tipped a touch-pass out to Meesseman for a wide-open 3-pointer to make it 92-89 with 28.0 seconds remaining and the Sky led the rest of the way.
Bonner, who scored 8 points and had 3 assists in the final 2:41, missed a deep potential winning 3 at the buzzer. She finished with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting and 6 assists.
Jonquel Jones had 17 points and 10 rebounds for Connecticut (22-11) and Thomas added 16 points and 8 boards. Sims scored 13 points, Courtney Williams had 12 and Brionna Jones added 10.
Connecticut was missing head coach Curt Miller, who was spending time with his family after his mom, Bev, died earlier this week.