Kahleah Copper scored 21 points, Candace Parker had five of her nine in the final 2 minutes, 37 seconds and the Chicago Sky beat the Atlanta Dream 73-65 on Friday night after blowing a 20-point first-half lead.
The Dream (6-4) took their only lead at 60-58 on a tough drive by Erica Wheeler with 7:45 to play. Sky rookie Rebekah Gardner tied it with a short shot and Courtney Vandersloot followed with a wide-open layup for a 62-60 lead.
It was still a two-point game when Parker’s heavily contested 10-footer went through for a 66-62 lead. In the last 1:27 the Sky (6-3) made 7 of 8 free throws — three by Parker and two by Emma Meesseman, who had 16 points.
Vandersloot had nine points to move past her wife, Allie Quigley, to become the Sky’s career scoring leader with 3,394 points.
Cheyenne Parker led the Dream with 19 points, and Wheeler had 15. Star rookie Rhyne Howard was held to five points on 2-of-12 shooting.
Vandersloot’s basket midway through the first quarter made it 20-4, and a few minutes later Azurá Stevens scored to give the Sky a 26-6 lead.
A 3-pointer by Kristy Wallace cut the deficit to single digits at 35-26 in the middle of the second quarter, and it was 39-31 at halftime as the Dream closed on a 13-4 run.