Tag: Courtney Vandersloot

WNBA scoring leader Jewell Loyd among 2023 Peak Performers

The first of the league awards were announced Monday and included the league leaders in points, rebounds and assists.

The end of the WNBA regular season means the league awards are upon us. The first awards were announced Monday and included the peak performers, or league leaders in points, rebounds and assists per game.

The three peak performers for the 2023 season were Seattle Storm guard Jewell Loyd, Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas and New York Liberty guard Courtney Vandersloot.

Loyd was the scoring leader after averaging 24.7 points per game; her 939 total points were the most in league history. Although the Storm did not make it to the postseason, Loyd signed a multiyear contract extension to stay in Seattle on Saturday.

Since Thomas has been setting numerous franchise and league records this season, it is no surprise she is one of the peak performers. She averaged 9.9 rebounds per game.

Vandersloot averaged 8.1 assists per game and had 314 assists this season. This is the seventh time she has won the prestigious award.

On Thursday, the WNBA Executive of the Year award will be announced. The league’s general managers select the honor.

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USC’s Okako Adika picked No. 30 by New York Liberty in WNBA draft

Okako Adika is now a teammate of Breanna Stewart, Courtney Vandersloot, and Sabrina Ionescu with the WNBA title favorites.

Some professional basketball players are superstars. Others are central role players. Still others are just along for the ride. USC’s Okako Adika hopes to become a central role player in the WNBA, but in 2023, she probably isn’t going to log a ton of minutes for her first professional team.

That’s okay. She landed on the best roster in the WNBA, gaining an immediate chance to become a champion.

It will be hard to bet against the New York Liberty this upcoming NBA season. Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot joined the franchise in free agency, creating a superteam with Sabrina Ionescu in the Big Apple.

Okako Adika, picked at No. 30 by the Liberty in the 2023 WNBA draft on Monday night, probably won’t be a central rotation piece on a roster which is this deep and loaded. However, she gets to learn how to play professional basketball from the best in the business. It’s an exciting opportunity for a USC standout who hit big shots this past season and played great defense for a Trojan team which reached the Women’s NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014.

Adika joins Kadi Sissoko as a USC WNBA draft pick in 2023. Sissoko went one spot ahead of Adika at No. 29 to the Phoenix Mercury.

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Courtney Vandersloot’s calm heroics on sweet buzzer-beater saved the Sky against Lynx

Last-second game-winners aren’t supposed to look this easy!

The more time passes, the more it feels like the Chicago Sky is a walking inevitability. In the approximate past week alone, the defending champs won a game without Candace Parker. Then, after playing historically poor defense early on, they beat the Las Vegas Aces to complete the largest comeback in WNBA history.

With the upstart Minnesota Lynx (+6) visiting on Sunday night, the Sky was taken a little off balance. Minnesota made a fourth-quarter run that eventually had the game tied in the final moments. For a second, it seemed like Chicago would soon suffer a heartbreaker.

The thing is: Someone forgot that Courtney Vandersloot (18 points, six assists, five rebounds) has ice in her veins when the game’s on the line:

Incredible. Is it any more clinical than the shooter squaring their shoulders, setting their feet, and calmly releasing a laser of an 88-85 game-winner? The Sky seem so unbeatable precisely because they stay composed in such clutch moments.

WNBA fans on Twitter were similarly impressed by Vandersloot’s shot and Chicago’s overall composure.

The Sky lost their opener to Sparks after absurd foul call forced OT, and fans were furious

A bad stroke of luck for the defending champs.

A year after their first WNBA title, the Sky enter the 2022 season with high hopes.

One of the league’s deeper teams, Chicago seems poised to repeat. Hey, with Candace Parker and Courtney Vandersloot, that sort of success almost seems inevitable.

And, in all likelihood, they may still get that repeat title yet. But in Game 1, at the beginning of their title defense, the Sky (-3.5 point favorites coming in) lost a 98-91 heartbreaker to the Sparks. They’ll probably move on from this soon but, thanks to a terrible call, it doesn’t sting any less.

Let’s take it to the end of the fourth quarter, with the Sky nursing an 88-85 lead. Jordin Canada took the ball the length of the court before pulling up for a three, as Dana Evans came to challenge her. When Canada rose, it seemed Evans made contact, and the officials gifted Canada three throws to force overtime. There, L.A. would eventually pull away and win.

But did Evans really foul her?

Oh no. Oh goodness, no. That is the definition of a soft call. Like, it’s nonexistent contact that should have never decided the final result. That’s absurd officiating which took away a win from the Sky.

Fans watching the game were similarly displeased about the call.