COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — Kahleah Copper scored 21 points, Candace Parker had five of her nine in the last 2:37 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. Chicago rookie Rebekah Gardner tied it with a short shot and followed with a wide-open layup from Courtney Vandersloot for a 62-60 lead for Chicago (6-3).
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It was still two point game when Parker’s heavily contested 10-footer went through for a 66-62 lead. In the last 1:27 the Sky 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 Chicago’s career scoring leader at 3,394 points.
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Cheyenne Parker led Atlanta with 19 points, and Wheeler had 15. Star rookie Rhyne Howard was held to five on 2-of-12 shooting.
Vandersloot’s basket midway through the first quarter made it 20-4 for Chicago and a few minutes later Azura 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 and it was 39-31 at the half as the Dream closed on a 13-4 run.
