Alyssa Thomas canned two foul shots with 4.1 seconds left Friday night and the Connecticut Sun rallied to beat the Chicago Sky 82-80 in Uncasville, Conn.
Thomas, who finished with 12 points, 11 assists, nine rebounds and four steals, drew Chennedy Carter’s sixth foul and delivered the points that enabled Connecticut to improve to 21-7. Chicago (11-17) wasn’t able to squeeze off a shot on its last possession.
Marina Mabrey, playing against her former team for the first time after being acquired by the Sun last month, came off the bench to score a game-high 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting. DeWanna Bonner added 15 and Brionna Jones also tallied 12 points.
Carter scored 19 points to lead four players in double figures for the Sky, while Kamilla Cardoso added 18 on 8-of-11 shooting. Lindsay Allen contributed 14 points and six assists, and rookie Angel Reese collected 13 points plus 20 rebounds for her 21st double-double.
Reese made WNBA history by becoming the first player to log back-to-back 20-rebound games. She grabbed 20 boards against the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday
Chicago led by as many as six points on three different occasions in the fourth quarter and still owned an 80-77 edge when Reese made two foul shots with 1:52 remaining. But it came up dry on its final four possessions.
Chicago jumped out to a 14-9 lead before Carter was called for a flagrant 1 foul on a Mabrey post-up. That sparked an 8-3 burst from Connecticut to end the quarter that included Mabrey’s second 3-pointer of the period.
The Sun seized on that momentum and established a comfortable lead in the second quarter. Mabrey kept her roll going with a pair of 3-pointers and a floater that helped her new team head to intermission with a 45-35 advantage.
The Sky made their move in the third quarter. Reese got going after a scoreless first half for nine points as they scored 29 in the period. When Allen converted a layup with 2.9 seconds left, Chicago took a 64-63 edge to the final 10 minutes.
–Field Level Media
