Guru’s WNBA Report: Indy Stuns Seattle while Las Vegas Tops Connecticut and Chicago Handles New York

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

The shocker of Thursday night came with the upset of the Indiana Fever taking down the front running Seattle Storm 90-84 while the Chicago Sky stayed with the upper tier in the standings, beating the lowly New York Liberty 101-85, and the Las Vegas Aces moved back within a game of first by stopping the recent momentum of Connecticut Sun 99-78 on the WNBA’s daily triple card at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., near Tampa/St. Petersburg.

 

Standings wise, the win over Seattle (11-2) by Indy (5-7) moved the Fever a game behind sixth place Phoenix, which was idle.

The Storm, off to their best start in history, had won nine straight but were outrebounded 46-30 in this one.

 

The failure of Connecticut (5-8) to trigger upsetting Las Vegas (9-3) left the Sun in eighth place amidst a big logjam for the final of the eight playoff spots that run from Phoenix (6-6) to Indy to the Sun inside the loop and continuing through the Washington Mystics (4-7) and Dallas Wings (4-8).

 

Mathematically, the Atlanta Dream (2-10) are alive fofr the postseason but 2.5 games down from Connecticut, while New York (1-11) rides in the standings caboose.

 

As for the Indy game, Kennedy Burke’s 23 points, a career-high, off 7-for-14 from the field was enough to somewhat offset the monster 35 points that Notre Dame alum Jewell Loyd produced for Seattle.

Chicago won this game without Tiffany Mitchell, though Burke did more than make up the difference.

 

Kelsey Mitchell threw down 17 points for the Fever, while Natalie Achonowa, another Irish alum, scored 14, rookie Julie Allemand scored 12 and dealt eight assists, Teaira McCowan had 10 points and nine rebounds, and former Temple standout Candice Dupree had six points, three assists, and 10 rebounds.

 

After Loyd on Seattle, the reliable Breanna Stewart scored 18, and Natasha Howard scored 11. Veteran Sue Bird, recently returned from a bone bruise in her knee, did not play.

 

In the Chicago game, former UConn star Azura Stevens had 25 points for the Sky, Allie Quigley and Courtney Vandersloot each scored 19, while Vandersloot also dealt 10 assists, and rookie Ruthie Hebard out of Oregon scored 11.

 

New York’s Jazmine Jones scored 18, Kia Nurse got 14 of her 17 points in the second half,  Kiah Stokes scored a season-high 14 and grabbed nine rebounds, Layshia Clarendon scored 12, and Amanda Zahui B scored 11.

 

It was the most points on the season for the Liberty in being saddled with another loss and struggling with the additional loss of number one draft pick Sabrina Ionescu, who injured her ankle in the third game.

 

The Sky, who owned the game, put it away early in the fourth quarter with a 6-0 run that upped the lead to 20 points before New York sliced the deficit back to 13 points.

 

In the nightcap, Las Vegas led by as much as 23 in coming off a setback Tuesday to Chicago on the final play of the game.

 

Kayla McBride and A’ja Wilson combined for 46 points for Las Vegas, McBride with a season-high shooting 9-for-10 from the field, none a three-pointer, and 7-for-7 from the line, while Wilson scored 21 and grabbed seven rebounds.

 

Dearica Hamby off the bench scored 15 and Angel McCoughtry scored 14.

 

On the Connecticut side, Alyssa Thomas and Briann January each scored 15, and DeWanna Bonner added 10. Alyssa Thomas also grabbed seven rebounds and dealt seven assists.

 

Looking Ahead

 

On Friday night, the triple-game card has Atlanta and Los Angeles tipping off at 7, followed by Washington and Dallas at eight, and finishing with a CBS Sports Network broadcast at 10 of Minnesota and Phoenix.

 

Saturday’s action has Seattle and Las Vegas in a 1-2 showdown at 3 p.m. on ABC, which is Channel 6 here in Philadelphia. Indiana will try to build off the Seattle win facing Chicago at 5 on the CBS Sports Network, while New York and Connecticut, also on CBSSN, face each other at 7 in what could be considered a must-win for the Sun.

 

The weekend on Sunday finishes with Atlanta and Minnesota at 4 on a twitter cast, followed by Dallas and Vegas at 6 on Facebook, and Phoenix and Washington at 8.

 

And that’s the report.