“Kahleah Freaking Copper.”
Everyone is familiar with the phrase that Copper has coined and the performances that evoke its use. Sunday was one of those performances.
Copper went off for 26 points, nine in the fourth quarter, propelling the Sky to a 86-83 win over the Sun and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.
“That’s who she is,” Sky coach/general manager James Wade said. “The fact that she’s able to put us on her shoulders emotionally and feed [us] that energy. Not only did our team follow her but the crowd followed her as well.”
Relentless was the hot word of the morning ahead of Game 3. By the fourth quarter, it was clear whichever team was more relentless was going to get the win.
Copper’s nine points in the fourth were part of a 7-0 late Sky run that was sparked by a charge Courtney Vandersloot took from Alyssa Thomas with four minutes left. The next play down the floor, Candace Parker fed the ball to Azurá Stevens in the paint for an easy layup.
It was the momentum shift the Sky needed at exactly the right time.
“In a game like this with everything that’s at stake you have to be willing to sacrifice your body,” Wade said.
The Sun did not make those final four minutes of the game easy on the Sky. Thomas had seven quick points that brought the Sun back within one point with 64 seconds left. By the end of the game, there were 16 lead changes and 10 tie-ups.
In her fifth game back on the floor since tearing her Achilles in January, Thomas finished with 18 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals.
This series has been highlighted by thrilling matchups and today was no exception. Between Dewanna Bonner guarding Copper and Briann January on Allie Quigley every basket, steal and rebound mattered.
Bonner led the Sun with 22 points and January finished with 11 points and four assists.
Quigley, who Sun coach/general manager Curt Miller said is one of the best off-the-ball guards in the league finished with 21 points on 54.5% shooting, four rebounds and two steals. In Game 2 January and her teammates held Quigley to eight points.
“We let her get some rhythm shots today,” January said. “A good shooter once she gets some rhythm shots there’s not much you can do. We need to be better at the point when she catches.”
Another key matchup in this series has been between the Sun’s frontcourt and the Sky’s.
The Sky have handled the Sun’s physicality and matched it. Candace Parker is averaging 14.6 points through the first three games. Parker’s 10 rebounds that went with her 10 points Sunday afternoon put her third on the WNBA’s all-time playoff rebounds list (472), passing former teammate Lisa Leslie in the process.
Defensively Parker and Stevens have limited WNBA MVP Jonquel Jones production in the paint. They held her to 10 points Sunday and Brionna Jones to eight.
Wade stressed how important it would be for his team to make adjustments on the glass Sunday and they did. The Sky outrebounded the Sun 35-30, giving up just one offensive rebound to the Sun in the first half and seven on the night.
Game 4 is set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Wintrust Arena and will be broadcast by ESPN. The Sky are one win away from playing in the WNBA Finals.
“Chicago, they want a winner,” Wade said. “We desperately want to give it to them.”
