Sky 78, Sun 66: Connecticut couldn't guard Hailey Van Lith

The WNBA draft prospects for Hailey Van Lith coming out of her fifth college season in April were all over the place, with some mock drafts having her going as high as to the Sun in sixth or seventh, some pushing her all the way to the end of the second round.

Van Lith struggled a bit with defensive pressure at TCU (and LSU) and making that leap athletically was a bit much for some scouts. But the Chicago Sky saw enough to trade up for her at 11th (they gave up a first-round pick, but it was already getting swapped with Minnesota anyway).

Like many rookies, Van Lith had been reduced to limited minutes while feeling her way. Then Courtney Vandersloot went down with a torn ACL. If you read the preview, I was miffed (and I wasn’t alone) that Van Lith got only four minutes in Friday’s loss to Atlanta, but Sunday was her best day as a pro by far: 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting and a +24 in 23 minutes as she dominated the second half.

Van Lith and Angel Reese have faced more than their share of criticism dating all the way back to their LSU days for very different reasons, with Van Lith (pretty bravely) admitting her mental health was so bad at times in college that she contemplated suicide. 

Reese, of course, added her first career triple-double as she did her best Alyssa Thomas impersonation on a floor where Thomas dominated as the “point forward” so many times in her Sun career. 

But, as a Sun fan, it was tougher to watch Van Lith, as both the Sun first rounders picked ahead of her never got into the game. That obviously gets an asterisk as Saniya Rivers was ill most of the week. However, Aneesah Morrow (whom Reese and Van Lith both played with at LSU in 2023-24) has struggled in limited minutes and never getting off the bench for a 2-7 rebuilding team is not a great sign, even if three-quarters of the season remain.

One game does not a career make, and you wonder if things might have been a lot tougher for Van Lith had Rivers played, but Sunday was a tough day for the Reese haters. And it might have been even tougher for the Van Lith detractors.

What else did we learn from another Sun loss in a game they could have won?:

 

1. Someone else other than Marina Mabrey and Tina Charles has to score  - Charles and Mabrey combined for 13 of the Sun’s 18 first-quarter field goal attempts, and they were over half again for the game (37 of 64, 58%). Jacy Sheldon snuck in with 12 points, but only took five shots and rarely (if ever) looked for her own shot. It was always going to be tough for Olivia Nelson-Ododa to do damage inside against Reese and Kamilla Cardoso, so it’s up to Bria Hartley or someone else (Rivers?) to contribute offensively. Easier said than done, obviously. Kariata Diaby deserves a shoutout for her hustle in 18 minutes, but she’s not going to be a average double-digit scorer in the WNBA this season.

2. Could be a long week ahead, but opportunity awaits? - After a week off before this game, the Sun now have four games in six days coming up, which include road games at Indiana and red-hot Golden State. We hope Rivers (and Lindsay Allen) will be 100% for all those games, and to speak more to No. 1 above, someone is going to have to step up offensively, or there could be some ugly results and dwindling confidence. But it’s also a chance for someone new (Morrow?) to make their presence felt and earn more playing time.

3. About the Charles and Reese incident -  My initial reaction was that Reese was fortunate not to be ejected for seemingly pushing Nelson-Ododa without provocation (which led to Charles stepping in and defending her teammate), but replay showed Bria Hartley grabbing Reese’s hair accidentally trying to grab the ball, which made Reese’s reaction a little more understandable. After the game, Reese was nothing but complimentary of Charles, and said Charles - being the great human she is - made it a point to talk to her before leaving the floor at the final buzzer. So I’m sure the clip will make the rounds because it’s Reese, but (other than perhaps the hair pull), it wasn’t anything you wouldn’t see in a men’s game, so probably should be about it and move on.

Player of the game:  Tina Charles - Charles did miss some shots in the second half and you would like to see her grab more rebounds, but she kept Connecticut in the game for large stretches and finished with 19 points.

Inside the numbers : 0.892 -  Points per possession the Sun scored against a pretty dreadful Chicago defense. The Sky did not have a lockdown defender for Mabrey, and she still finished with six turnovers and got little help when she did find her teammates. After the game (see quotable), Mabrey said Connecticut needs to push tempo more (the game finished on a alow 74 possessions), but good luck with that in Indiana Tuesday night.

Under the radar: The Sun got off to a great start defensively by defending the pick-and-roll extremely well, mostly with a weak side defender coming over to steal the pass to the roller. Tyler Marsh noticed it and adjusted by having the roller quickly get rid of the ball, which led to a few of Reese’s first-half assists, although the Sun’s biggest defensive deficiency of the afternoon was not being able to keep Van Lith in front of them (they allowed only seven offensive rebounds).

Quotable:  “I think we take ourselves out of the game when we slow the offense down. Every time that we slow our offense down, we create more turnovers, our spacing isn’t as good, and then we’re back in transition defense. It’s a pattern. We need to move with pace. We need to be calm, also, that’s something that we’re really having a problem with. We have to clean that up.” - Marina Mabrey

Next up: Tuesday at Indiana, 7 p.m.