Sabrina’s magic wasted vs. Sky
Courtney Vandersloot hit a 3-pointer from the wing with 0.9 seconds left to help the Chicago Sky overcome Sabrina Ionescu’s second career triple-double and beat the Liberty, 88-86, on Sunday in Brooklyn.
Ionescu tied the WNBA record for triple doubles, finishing with 27 points,
13 rebounds and 12 assists, accomplishing the feat by the end of the third quarter — the fastest in league history. It wasn’t enough for the Liberty(5-9), which had won four of its past five games.
“I don’t care about triple doubles, we lost, I’m really bummed about that,” Ionescu said. “In retrospect, thankful for my teammates to put me in position to achieve that . ... We have a lot more to prove and I’m excited for the next game.”
With the Sky trailing, 86-85, Vandersloot took a pass from Emma Meesseman on the wing and hit the 3. The Liberty had one last chance, but couldn’t get a good shot off.
Vandersloot finished with 20 points, 10 assists and six rebounds for the Sky (9-4), which has won five of six.
Before Vandersloot’s 3-pointer, Chicago missed five shots in the final 25 seconds, but kept getting chances.
Ionescu did all she could to get the Liberty the win. She scored 13 of her points in the fourth quarter and joined Candace Parker, Vandersloot and Sheryl Swoopes as the only players to record two triple-doubles in their WNBA careers. Parker recorded her second one earlier this season.
The Liberty led, 82-77, with 2:54 left after a deep 3-pointer by Ionescu. Chicago then scored eight of the next 10 points to take an 85-84 lead on Meesseman’s reverse layup with 48.5 seconds left.
Ionescu then hit two free throws 14 seconds later to restore a onepoint lead for the Liberty.
Meesseman scored 20 points to go along with 11 rebounds.
The Liberty led, 45-44, at the half as Ionescu notched nine points, eight assists and six rebounds. Meesseman scored 10 points for Chicago.
Sunday’s game also featured a matchup of Chinese players Han Xu and Li Yueru. There was a handful of Chinese media in attendance for the game.
The Liberty’s Han has had a better season, averaging 10.7 points and 5.0 rebounds. She scored 10 points on Sunday. Li scored 2.
The two played together on the country’s Olympic team in Tokyo. Li averaged 14.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, and shot 78.6% from the field at the Tokyo Games. Han averaged 9.5 points.