CHICAGO — At halftime, the Chicago Sky were up 47-32 on the Connecticut Sun in Game 2 of the WNBA semifinals Wednesday night. As she was returning to the court after the break, Sky All-Star Candace Parker caught a glimpse of Serena Williams at the U.S. Open on a TV and saw Williams had won the first set.
At the same time, on press row, a group of women sports writers took a free moment to anxiously check in on Williams’ match. Though there were other sports on, the biggest events of the night on ESPN — Williams on main and the Sky on ESPN2 — belonged to women.
Parker and the Sky led by as many as 20 points in the third quarter. The Sun, who had bullied and battered them just two nights before, had no answer. Any questions about whether the Sky could bounce back were put to bed. With their backs against the wall against a hungry opponent out for revenge, the defending WNBA champs refocused and returned to form.
Suns coach Curt Miller wanted his team to make the game messy again, but the Sky’s offense was clicking and they frustrated the Sun with their swarming defense. They played fast, forcing the Sun into taking bad shots.
“I thought they did a really nice job of getting the game the style of play that they’re very successful at: free flowing, back cutting, a lot of cutting,” Miller said postgame.
“It’s pretty when they get going and we need it messy. I thought they imposed their will to get to the style that they know that they can be successful at. We did not make it messy enough.”
Williams, who won the first set 7-6 in a tiebreak, experienced a little “messiness” herself and lost the second set 6-2.
At least three members of the group on media row at Wintrust Arena switched back and forth between the updating Sky-Sun box score and the U.S. Open, sharing updates with the rest of us. During stoppages of play, glances were stolen at the laptop screen of whoever was streaming the match. “Can she do it?”
At 8:45 p.m. CT, as the Sky continued to outwork the Sun in front of a crowd of 8,311, Williams pulled off the upset of No. 2 Anett Kontaviet in front of a record-setting crowd of roughly 29,959 fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium — many of whom were there just to see her.
“SHE DID IT!” one of the writers excitedly whispered. There was no time for discussion or celebration though, there was still a game happening in front of us.
Almost 20 minutes after Williams’ victory, the Sky won 85-77. Their comeback was complete and the series was tied 1-1. The crowd was on its feet.
What a night for women.
