GAME NOTES:
- The No. 1 seeded Connecticut Sun (26-6, 1-3) fell to the No. 6 Chicago Sky (16-16, 5-1), 79-69 in Game 4 of the WNBA Semifinals.
- Chicago gained as much as an 11 point lead over Connecticut in the first quarter. The Sun were able to come back within six to end the frame. Jonquel Jones led the team with nine points and Alyssa Thomas came off the bench to add seven in this quarter.
- The Sun cut their deficit to within three (38-35) with 7:13 to go in the second. However, Chicago outscored Connecticut 22-15 to give themselves a 54-41 lead going into the half.
- Connecticut hit two back-to-back threes to start the second half and cut the Sky’s 16 point lead to seven (54-47). The Sun would go on to outscore Chicago 17-11 in the third to be down seven going into the final quarter. Connecticut scored five three point field goals in the third quarter and set a new franchise record for 3pt FGM in a quarter during the playoffs.
- Chicago went on an 8-2 run to start the fourth quarter and would go on to outscore Connecticut 14-11 in the fourth to secure the victory.
- Natisha Hiedeman came off the bench shooting 5-6 from three to finish the night with 16 points. Natisha Hiedeman hit three of the five and tied Jasmine Thomas’s franchise record for three pointers made in a quarter during the playoffs.
- Jonquel Jones earned her 7th career playoff double-double with points and rebounds, to tie Tina Charles and Erlana Larkins to become 14th overall in this category. J. Jones finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds.
- Alyssa Thomas collected her 100th playoff career assist. She came off the bench finishing with seven points, eight rebounds and four assists.
- Jasmine Thomas had her 16th career playoff game getting 10 or more points as she ended the night with 11 points, five rebounds and three assists.
- Bonner (70) passed Katie Douglas to become 20th overall on the WNBA Playoffs All-Time offensive rebounds list.
- A. Thomas (168) passed No. 41 Natasha Howard (161) and Tamika Whitmore (163) to become No. 40 on the All-time playoff rebounds list.
- A. Thomas is now tied with Penny Taylor at 36th overall on the WNBA playoffs offensive rebounding list with 53.
- J. Jones (48) passed Sheryl Swoopes (47) and is now tied with Tari Phillips sitting at 40th on the WNBA playoffs offensive rebound list.
- Bonner (67) passed Lisa Leslie (65) and Ticha Penicherio (65) and is now tied with Sue Bird (67) at 12th overall on the WNBA playoff steals list.
- Connecticut outrebounded Chicago 34-33 and scored 13 to the Sky’s 10 second chance points. The Sun also outscored the Sky 28-24 in the paint.
- The Sky dished out 20 assists to the Sun’s 13, Candace Parker had seven. Chicago had 15 fast break points to Connecticut’s seven.
- Courtney Vandersloot led Chicago in scoring with 19 points and shot 5-of-6 from behind the arc. She tied the record for three pointers made by opponents against the Sun in the playoffs. She joins Natasha Cloud, Diana Taurasi and Katie Douglas. Vandersloot committed eight turnovers which is the most committed by an individual Sun opponent in playoff history. The previous was six committed by Angel McCoughtry in 2011.
- Kaleah Copper added 18 points, Parker had a team-high nine rebounds and scored 17 points.