Sun-Sky Preview

By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN
Posted Jun 22 2011 1:06PM

Tina Charles responded to a poor effort in her first matchup with Sylvia Fowles with a much better one.

The top scorers in the WNBA will meet for the third time this month Thursday night when Charles and the Connecticut Sun return to the site of their only loss as they travel to face Fowles and the Chicago Sky.

Chicago (3-3) opened the season series between these teams with a 78-75 home victory June 10. Fowles had 23 points and 13 rebounds while Charles had what remain season lows of eight and four, respectively.

The rematch Sunday at Connecticut was a completely different affair for Charles, who had a career-high 31 points and 12 boards in an 83-68 victory. Fowles had 23 points and 10 rebounds.

The 6-foot-6 Fowles leads the WNBA with 21.2 points per game while the 6-4 Charles is second at 20.4.

"They push each other and make each other better," Sun coach Mike Thibault said.

Charles' performance capped a week in which she averaged 28.5 points on 63.2 percent shooting in two games to earn Eastern Conference player of the week honors.

"Every game I need to go out and take it more personal," Charles said.

Connecticut (4-1) has won three straight after turning in a better defensive effort than the first meeting with Chicago. The Sky hit 50.0 percent from the field in the matchup at Allstate Arena before shooting 39.7 percent Sunday.

Another key to the turnaround was Connecticut's ability to contain Chicago rookie Courtney Vandersloot, who had 18 points and made all four 3-pointers in the Sky's victory but was held to six points in their loss.

Chicago is probably happy to be home after an 0-2 road trip. The Sky followed the loss at Connecticut with a 71-68 defeat to Atlanta on Tuesday.

Fowles had 21 points but battled foul trouble as she played a season-low 24 minutes and managed only four rebounds - half her season average - while matched up against 6-5 Dream center Erika de Souza.

"Overall I thought I was on the down end on my performance," Fowles said. "But you have some of those days. You have to have bad games. But you have to learn from it and keep pushing through."

Chicago got a boost from reserve forward Tamera Young, who scored 14 after totaling eight in her first four games.

"Even though we lost the game, we need to recognize some of the people who came into the game prepared, like Tamera Young," coach Pokey Chatman said. "I thought she had energy, she was packing it, she was ready, great offense."

The teams have split their last 12 meetings, with the home team winning 10.

Sky beat Sun 107-101 in double overtime

Posted Jun 23 2011 11:35PM

ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) Epiphanny Prince scored 10 of her 25 points in the second overtime, and Sylvia Fowles added 24 points and 12 rebounds to help the Chicago Sky beat the Connecticut Sun 107-101 on Thursday night.

Prince hit a 3-pointer and made seven of eight free throws in the final overtime.

Tamera Young had 20 points, Michelle Snow finished with 17 rebounds and 12 points, and Courtney Vandersloot had 14 points and 10 assists for Chicago. The Sky snapped a two-game losing streak to improve to 4-3.

Renee Montgomery led Connecticut (4-2) with 33 points, matching her career high, and had six assists. Tina Charles added 22 points and 13 rebounds. The loss snapped the Sun's winning streak at three.

There were six ties and nine lead changes in the fourth quarter. Chicago took an 84-81 lead on Fowles' putback with 9 seconds left, but Montgomery hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to force overtime.

Montgomery made another 3-pointer to make it 91-90 in the first overtime. After Kara Lawson's free throw made it 92-90 with 6.9 seconds left, Fowles hit a turnaround jumper off an inbound feed to tie it.

The Sky were without veteran guard Dominique Canty. She had arthroscopic surgery on her left knee Thursday and is expected to be out three weeks.

• Sun: --
• Sky: --

• Sun: --
• Sky: --

• Lead Changes: 20
• Times Tied: 15

• Arena: Allstate Arena, Rosemont, IL
• Officials: #55 Eric Brewton, #27 Penny Davis, #45 Tom Mauer
• Attendance: 3319
• Duration: 2:43