The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Sky deny Sun top seed
UNCASVILLE — The Connecticut Sun had bought themselves some margin for error heading into their final home game of the regular season. Thanks to a 30point win over Dallas earlier in the week, they had already secured a bye through the first two rounds of the WNBA playoffs.
While it was an enviable position to be, the Sun still had more to gain — most notably, the No. 1 overall seed.
Diamond DeShields and Co. must not have gotten the memo.
The Chicago Sky spoiled the Sun’s plans, rallying for a 109104 overtime win Friday at Mohegan Sun Arena. It was just Connecticut’s second loss in 17 tries at home this season.
“Well that was fun,” Sun coach Curt Miller deadpanned. “That’s playoff environment, playoff basketball, two high level teams playing down the stretch. I’m disappointed that we couldn’t hold that fourthquarter lead, but we made some big plays to get into overtime.”
Connecticut was in control, up 8073 after three quarters, but DeShields helped Chicago (2013) mount a rally. DeShields poured in a gamehigh 30 points, including a jumper to give the Sky the lead for good in overtime, 9998. Courtney Vandersloot contributed 19 points and 11 assists. Courtney Williams paced the Sun with 25 points, nine rebounds, nine assists and four steals.
A Williams 3pointer brought Connecticut within 103101 with 1:14 left in the extra session, but Chi
cago didn’t budge. Astou Ndour’s layup stretched the lead back to four the next trip down the floor. Two free throws by DeShields with 1.6 seconds remaining iced it for Chicago.
“They’re so dynamic offensively,” Miller said. “They’re really, really difficult to guard. Hat’s off to them. They played terrific offensively all night. We couldn’t turn it over. They shot a very, very high percentage.
“You’ve got to string some stops together when you can’t turn someone over.”
Connecticut forced some turnovers — 20, in fact — but Chicago shot 53 percent from the floor.
Chicago had nearly put Connecticut away in regulation, but with 1.3 seconds left and the Sun trailing 9491, Williams was fouled by DeShields while attempting a desperation 3. Williams promptly converted three free throws to tie it, and the teams headed to overtime after DeShields missed a shot at the buzzer.
The Sun dropped to 2310, with only Sunday’s trip to Indiana (4 p.m.) remaining in the regular season. They’ve already clinched a doublebye, meaning they’ll get to avoid the oneanddone scenario that’s doomed them the last few seasons.
Jonquel Jones added 18 points and nine rebounds for the Sun. Gabby Williams for Chicago had nine points while fellow former UConn standout Katie Lou Samuelson was scoreless in two minutes off the bench.