NEW YORK — Courtney Vandersloot hit a 3-pointer from the wing with 0.9 seconds left to help the Chicago Sky overcome Sabrina Ionescu’s second career triple-double and beat the New York Liberty 88-86 on Sunday.
Ionescu tied the WNBA record for triple doubles when she finished with 27 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists, accomplishing the feat by the end of the third quarter — the fastest in league history. It wasn’t enough for New York (5-9), which had won four of its past five games.
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Trailing 86-85, Vandersloot took a pass from Emma Meesseman on the wing and made the 3. New York had one last chance, but couldn’t get a good shot off.
Vandersloot finished with 20 points, 10 assists and six rebounds for the Sky (9-4), who have won five of six.
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Before Vandersloot’s 3-pointer, Chicago missed five shots in the final 25 seconds, but kept getting chances.
Ionescu did all she could to get New York the win. She had 13 of her points in the fourth quarter and joined Candace Parker, Vandersloot and Sheryl Swoopes as the only players to have two triple-doubles in their WNBA careers. Parker had her second one earlier this season.
New York led 82-77 with 2:54 left after a deep 3-pointer by Ionescu. Chicago then scored eight of the next 10 points to take an 85-84 lead on Meesseman’s reverse layup with 48.5 seconds left.
Ionescu then hit two free throws 14 seconds later to restore a one-point lead for New York.
Meesseman had 20 points and 11 rebounds.
New York led 45-44 at the half as Ionescu had nine points, eight assists and six rebounds. Meesseman scored 10 points for Chicago.
Liberty guard Marine Johannes drove the lane and threw a behind-the-back pass to Stefanie Dolson who made a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 32 seconds left in the half.
Sunday’s game also featured a matchup of Chinese basketball players Han Xu and Li Yueru. There was a handful of Chinese media in attendance for the game.
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Han has had a better WNBA season, averaging 10.7 points and 5.0 rebounds. She had 10 points on Sunday. Li had 2.
The two played together on the country’s Olympic team in Tokyo. Li averaged 14.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, and shot 78.6% from the field at the Tokyo Games. Han averaged 9.5 points.
Chicago: hosts Atlanta on Friday.
New York: hosts Washington on Thursday.
