Like a great maestro, Courtney Vandersloot orchestrated one of the best games in WNBA playoff history.
Vandersloot had the second triple-double in postseason history with 12 points, a league-playoff-record 18 assists and 10 rebounds to lead the Chicago Sky to a 101-95, double-overtime victory over the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday night in the opener of a best-of-five series.
“She’s amazing,” Sky coach James Wade said. “Look at the stat sheet and the way she controlled the game. She was able to control the game from the beginning to the end. She had a special game. One of the best point guard games in playoff history. I’m not surprised because this is what she does.”
Vandersloot had no idea that she was close to the historic stats. She was just focused on trying to get the Sky the huge victory.
“It’s really special,” Vandersloot said. “I didn’t know I had the triple-double until the end.
Sheryl Swoopes had the only other triple-double in WNBA playoff history, in 2005.
“She’s elite,” Vandersloot said. “To be with that company, that’s obviously special. To do it in the playoffs, I needed 50 minutes to do it.”
With the game tied at 93, Candace Parker scored on a layup off a neat pass for Vandersloot’s record-breaking assist. Vandersloot, who broke Sue Bird’s mark of 16 set last postseason, then threw a beautiful pass to Stefanie Dolson, who converted to give the Sky a four-point lead with 1:29 left.
The Sun couldn’t recover, scoring only their second basket of the second overtime on Brionna Jones’ jumper with 13.7 seconds left to make it 98-95. Vandersloot got her 10th rebound with 7.9 seconds remaining.
“She orchestrates everything out there,” Suns coach Curt Miller said. “She’s so good with the basketball. Huge game for her. We have to look at different ways to disrupt her. That’s Slooty. That’s what we think about her each and every night — she has the ability to just orchestrate everything.”
Jonquel Jones, who was honored as the WNBA MVP before the game, led the Sun with 26 points and 11 rebounds. Brionna Jones, who earned Most Improved Player honors, added 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Sun, who lost only one game at home during the regular season en route to the league’s best record.
This was the first double-overtime playoff game since 2015, between the Mystics and Liberty.
“I’m disappointed with the end result, but a great game to start the semifinals,” Miller said. “I think there was 14 lead changes, 15 ties. We get a double-overtime game in Game 1. … Really good game to start for the WNBA.”
Both teams had chances to end the game before the second overtime. The Sun’s DeWanna Bonner missed an off-balance shot at the end of regulation.
With the game tied at 91 in the first overtime, the Sky dribbled the clock down before Brionna Jones stole the ball, but the Sun couldn’t get a shot off before the buzzer, sending it to the second extra session.
The Sun, who won the last 14 games of the regular season, got off to a slow start in their first game since Sept. 19. They trailed by 11 but scored 10 of the final 12 points to cut it to 24-21 after one quarter.
The Sun kept their roll going in the second and led 44-40 before Diamond DeShields scored the final seven points of the half to give the Sky a 47-46 lead at halftime.
Neither team could get much separation in the third quarter, and the Sky led by three heading into the fourth.
Game 2 is Thursday at Mohegan Sun Arena before the series shifts to Chicago for potentially the next two games.
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