Parker leads hometown Chicago to 1st WNBA title
Candace Parker returned home to bring Chicago a championship. She did just that, leading the Sky to the franchise’s first title.
Allie Quigley scored 26 points and Parker added 16 points, 13 rebounds and five assists and Chicago beat the Phoenix Mercury 80-74 on Sunday in
Game 4.
“This one is so sweet,” a champagne-soaked Parker said. “To do it with this group. I love this group, I love this team. And to do it here at home, it was just supposed to be.”
Courtney Vandersloot added 10 points and 15 assists for the Sky, who won the series 3-1, rallying from a 72-65 deficit with 4:42 left. Chicago scored the next nine points to take a two-point lead on
Stefanie Dolson’s layup.
She then added another basket to make it 76-72 with 45.8 seconds left.
Diana Taurasi was fouled on the next possession shooting a 3-pointer and made the first two free throws, but missed the third.
Vandersloot then scored in the lane to seal the victory and set off the celebration. As the final buzzer sounded, Parker sprinted to the corner of the court and hugged her family with tears in her eyes.
“It was amazing to just hug my dad and my mom,” Parker said. “It was just an amazing feeling to be from here and see so many people in the stands that have been supporting you since you started. It’s just a moment where you just have to really take it in.”
Kahleah Copper, who had been a force in the first four games of the finals, earned MVP honors of the
championship.
“I have this edginess and grittiness about me that’s going to keep me going,” Copper said. “It was very important for me to be consistent coming in this year and better than I was last year. You put the work in and you get rewarded.”
ETC.
NHL: Chris Tierney
scored on two secondperiod power plays and Filip Gustavsson made 32 saves in the Ottawa Senators’ 3-2 victory over the visiting Dallas Stars. Nick Paul also scored for Ottawa and Connor Brown had three assists to reach 100 for his career. Gustavsson played his first regular-season NHL game since May 12.
Soccer: Victor Osimhen soared in for a towering header nine minutes from time and Napoli extended its perfect start to Serie A with a 1-0 win over Torino. Napoli matched its best start, having also won its opening eight matchers in 2017-18 . ... Bayern Munich wanted to send a message to fellow title contenders like Bayer Leverkusen. Bouncing back from a rare loss to Eintracht Frankfurt in its last game, Bayern dismantled Leverkusen
5-1 with two goals apiece from Robert Lewandowski and Serge Gnabry.
NBA: Brooklyn Nets’ LaMarcus Aldridge has no nerves ahead of his first regular season game back from the heart arrhythmia that forced him into an early and abrupt retirement last season. Aldridge arrived in Brooklyn after orchestrating a contract buyout with the San Antonio
Spurs in the middle of the year. He averaged 12.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in his first five games as a Net, then exited early in a blowout loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Five days later, the seventime All-Star big man announced his retirement from basketball after experiencing an irregular heartbeat.
Auto racing: All four spots in the championship round of the NASCAR Xfinity Series are still up for grabs after non-playoff qualifier John Hunter Nemechek overcame a late penalty late Saturday to win at Texas Motor Speedway.
Daniel Hemric led seven of the eight playoff qualifiers across the finish line after Nemechek, taking second in the 117th race of his career without a victory.
was third, followed by and