Jonquel Jones and the top-seeded Connecticut Sun will be seeking to save their season Wednesday night in Chicago when they face Kahleah Copper and the
Chicago Sky in Game 4 of their best-of-five semifinal series.
Chicago pushed Connecticut to the brink of elimination Sunday with an 86-83 win in Game 3 to take a 2-1 series lead. Copper set the tone with a playoff-career-high 26 points as the Sky used a 15-2 run to overcome a seven-point deficit early in the final quarter.
Newly minted WNBA MVP Jones finished with 10 points in the loss and has totaled just 14 points on 7-of-20 shooting over two games since leading all scorers with 26 in the Sun’s 101-95 double overtime loss to the Sky in the series opener.
Jones was the league’s fourth-leading scorer in the regular season, averaging 19.4 points per game.
“Both teams want it, want it bad. They want it, we want it,” said Sun forward DeWanna Bonner, who had 22 points in the Game 3 defeat. “They were a little more tougher than us down the stretch … it’s going to be that way to the end of this series, for sure.”
Copper, who said she needed to bring more energy after the team’s 79-68 loss in Game 2, scored nine in the fourth quarter Sunday to rally the Sky from an eight-point deficit. The first-time All-Star scored 13 points in each of the first two games of the series.
“I just was aggressive from the beginning, and that’s important for me to bring the energy, to bring the toughness, to get us going,” Copper said. “I’m just trying to do whatever I can do out there and just be that person for us.”
Chicago is one win away from making its first trip to the WNBA Finals since 2014 (when they were swept in three games by the Phoenix Mercury) and its second in franchise history.
Connecticut, meanwhile, is trying to reach the Finals for the fifth time and attain its first league championship. The Sun made their last trip to the Finals in 2019, losing to Washington in five games. They also reached the Finals in 2004 and 2005.
–Field Level Media
