Jones, Sun on the brink of elimination

It was a dramatic final minute on Sunday afternoon for Bahamian women’s professional basketball player Jonquel “JJ” Jones and the Connecticut Sun, as they were unable to score a go-ahead bucket as the Chicago Sky survived, 86-83, to take a 2-1 lead in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) best-of-five semifinal series.

Playing on the road at a loud Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois, Jones had another tough game as she finished with just 10 points – almost 10 below her season average. She added 10 rebounds for a double-double. Jones connected on five of her 11 shot attempts from the field to finish at a 45.5 percent clip. She came away with four blocked shots that included a key one on an attempted layup by Azura Stevens midway through the fourth quarter.

It was a back and forth game that included 10 ties and 15 lead changes heading into the fourth quarter. League Most Valuable Player (MVP) Jones had only two shot attempts in the fourth quarter and scored just four points in the second half. She made a layup at the 8:33 mark of the fourth to put the Sun up 70-62. That was the Sun’s largest lead of the game, coming on the heels of a 10-2 scoring run. It looked like the Sun had the momentum at that point.

Their glory was short-lived as the Sky ran down the Sun, taking a 75-74 lead with 4:10 remaining on a Stevens’ layup. That marked a key 13-4 run by the Sky. It was a lead they would not relinquish again.

With 42.8 seconds left in the game, Briann January cut the Sky’s lead to 84-83 with two made free-throws. The score remained the same with 18 seconds left in the game. At that time, Alyssa Thomas drove but missed a 

pull-up jump shot in the paint for the Sun. The Sky had an empty possession, and eight seconds later, January had a golden chance to give her team a go-ahead bucket but she went too strong and attempted a complicated reverse layup that missed.

The Sky took an 85-83 lead after that missed shot when Courtney Vandersloot split a pair of free-throws. The Sun had a chance to send the game into overtime with two seconds left in the game but came up empty on a three-point attempt, and the Sky held on for the win.

DeWanna Bonner led the Sun with 22 points. Sky guard Kahleah Copper led all scorers with 26 points.

In the fourth quarter, the Sky outscored the Sun 26-20. The Sun outscored them 28-23 in the third quarter.

For the second straight game, Jones struggled after opening the series with 26 points. In Game Two on Thursday night, she finished with a season-low four points on 2-of-9 shooting from the field, but the Sun won that game, 79-68, as their defense was stellar. In the three games this series, she is averaging 13.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. She is shooting 41.5 percent from the field. It is her toughest two-game stretch of the season.

The Sun did not rebound the ball well as the Sky pulled down 12 offensive boards that gave them some key second-chance points. Overall, the Sun was 

outrebounded 35-30 – an anomaly for them.

The Bahamian has a chance to turn her play around on Wednesday night when Game Four is played. That game gets underway at 8 p.m. The Sun, who had the best regular season record this season, will attempt to find a way to keep the number six seeded Sky from going to the WNBA Finals.

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