Two shots, 34 seconds
Chicago should have lost this one. The Sky built a 21-point lead in the first half, watched every bit of it disappear, and then handed the ball to Sydney Taylor twice in the closing 35 seconds. She made both.
The first came from 24 feet with 34.4 seconds left, tying the game after Kaitlyn Chen had put Golden State ahead 70-67 with a floater. The second came from 25 feet over Veronica Burton, the best perimeter defender the Valkyries have, with 0.6 seconds on the clock. Final score 73-70 to Chicago.
Janelle Salaun had one look at the buzzer from 26 feet. It came up short.
Try it for $0.99.
How Chicago nearly threw it away
The Sky opened on a 17-4 run with Natasha Cloud burying two 3-pointers, then scored the first 14 points of the second quarter to lead 37-16 with 4:29 on the clock. Golden State closed the half on a 10-1 run and trailed only 38-26 at the break.
The rest of the night belonged to the visiting bench. Golden State’s reserves scored 51 of the team’s 70 points. Laeticia Amihere led them with 16, Salaun added 13 and Tiffany Hayes finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists. The starters were quiet enough that the substitutes played most of the second half.
Chen was the one who nearly won it, first with a tiebreaking triple from 33 feet, then with the floater. Given the ball again after Taylor’s equaliser, she was harried into a short airball with 15.8 seconds left.
What it changes
Cloud finished as the game’s top scorer with 17 points on a perfect 5-for-5 from beyond the arc. Kamilla Cardoso matched Taylor on 14 and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds. Courtney Vandersloot added 12 points and five assists.
Chicago move to 15-22 and have now won three in a row, taking the season series 2-1. Golden State drop to 25-11 at the start of a five-game road trip, and the Las Vegas Aces are now within a game of them in the fight for second place.
Burton will replay that last possession for a while. Taylor had barely any daylight.
Discover the rest of our WNBA news on MathODDS!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply