Candace Parker had 14 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists to lead the Chicago Sky over the Liberty 90-72 on Tuesday night in the deciding Game 3 to advance to the semifinals of the WNBA playoffs.
The defending champion Sky await the winner of the Connecticut-Dallas series that will play its deciding Game 3 on Wednesday.
Betnijah Laney scored 15 points and Sabrina Ionescu and Natasha Howard each had 14 for the Liberty.
“[Chicago] is a really good team, see the chemistry the have,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “They have poise and they made plays and we couldn’t. We rushed a few shots when they made some plays. Proud of these girls, proud of this team. The more experienced team won tonight.”
Chicago Sky guard Kahleah Copper drives to the basket against New York Liberty guard Rebecca Allen. AP
The seventh-seed Liberty shocked the Sky by winning Game 1. Chicago routed the Liberty by a WNBA playoff record 38 points in the second game, racing out to a 31-10 lead by the end of the first quarter and never looking back.
“We knew what we had to do. They were all on a mission and you could tell it was a collective mission,” Chicago coach James Wade said. “We decided it was go time and show what we were made of and responded in Game 2 and built on it after that.”
This one was a lot more competitive. Chicago led 25-20 after one and extended the advantage to 54-42 at the half as Parker had seven points, six assists and seven rebounds in the first half.
The Liberty scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter, including a five-point possession by Ionescu that got them within 68-65 and brought the sold-out lower bowl of Barclays Center to its feet.
That euphoria didn’t last long. Chicago scored the next 16 points, including consecutive 3-pointers by Allie Quigley, to end the run and put the game away with just over 4 minutes left.
Played at Barclays Center, this was the Liberty’s first home playoff game since 2017 when they lost in the second round to Washington. They hadn’t made the semifinals since 2015.
Quigley and Kahleah Copper each added 15 points while Courtney Vandersloot had 14 points and 10 assists for the second-seeded Sky. Chicago has now won four consecutive elimination games dating to back-to-back single-elimination games last year en route to the franchise’s first WNBA championship.
