NFL
By: Zachary Draves
After a season of ups and downs and a bit of uncertainty, the Chicago Sky is one game away from punching their ticket to the WNBA Finals for the second time in franchise history after defeating the Connecticut Sun 86-83 in a real slugfest to give them a 2-1 lead in the best of five series.
The game featured 16 lead changes and 10 ties until the Sky came through in the end with crucial shots that put them ahead and also their victory was catapulted by a 26 point performance by Kahleah Copper.
An advantage that the Sky has had during this playoff run has been their established veterans who have been down this road before and know what it takes to be on the big stage.
The highlights of the game are as follows:
- Sky forward Candace Parker passed Lisa Leslie for third on the all-time WNBA Playoffs rebounds leaders list as she grabbed 10 boards against the Sun in the Sky’s Game #3 2021 WNBA Semifinals win on Sunday. Parker now has 481.
- For Chicago, forward Kahleah Copper scored a playoff-career high 26 points and shot 64.3% from the field as well as 50% from beyond the three-point arc.
- The Sky’s nine three-point field goals were the team’s most in a playoff game this season.
- Today, Sky guard Courtney Vandersloot finished with 13 assists in the playoffs for the fourth time in her career. With this finish, Vandersloot is now the first player to have 13 or more assists in a playoff game multiple times in the same postseason. In addition, Vandersloot now has 200 career playoff assists, good for seventh on the all-time list.
- Chicago has won two games in the WNBA Semifinals for just the second time in franchise history. The first was in 2014 when the Sky beat Indiana 2-1 to clinch the Eastern Conference title and advanced to the 2014 WNBA Finals.
This victory puts the Sky on the brink of greatness and it’s especially warranted after a season plagued by injuries to some of their core talent including Candace Parker and Stefanie Dolson and upheaval due to the Olympics being rescheduled as a result of COVID.
The feelings of excitement and anticipation are in the air but it doesn’t deter Coach James Wade from getting the job done.
“I feel good that we won today but we have to win the next game” he said.
“I don’t take wins and loses for granted, however, I am excited about the game and what we need to do but I am thinking about being on the brink of the finals but how we win the next game.”
That sentiment was also expressed by one of the all-time greats herself Candace Parker.
“I think our mindset has been one game at a time” she said.
“We got to execute and we got to play together and once we do that I like our chances.”
The Sky look to close out in Game #4, which will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021, on ESPN. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. CT (8:00 p.m. ET)
