Curt Miller wants two things to be known:

1. Candace Parker is a great basketball player.
2. The Sun’s post trio of Alyssa Thomas, Jonquel Jones and Brionna Jones have knocked her out of the playoffs three out of the last four postseasons.

“I want to go on the record about that,” he said after his team’s Game 5 comeback win over the Sky on Thursday night to secure a WNBA Finals bid.

As for Parker, she has two statements of her own:

1. The Sky hang championship banners, not conference banners.
2. The Sun’s defense didn’t cause the loss — the Sky’s mistakes did.

“We have a standard to uphold,” Parker said in response. “We won a championship last year. We don’t hang conference banners. Defensively, yeah, they did a great job, they won the series. But if it’s anything, it’s us. It’s our aggression that changed things.”

Whether it was the Sun’s defense or the Sky’s collapse, there was a clear shift in the fourth quarter as the Sun advanced to their first Finals since 2019 with a 72-63 victory at Wintrust Arena.

The Sun entered the final period down 58-48 before outscoring the Sky 24-5 in the fourth quarter to take the lead.

At the 7:20 mark, Emma Meesseman knocked down a 3-point jumper, and Kahleah Copper scored two more points with 4:46 left in the game. That was the last time the Sky scored, as they ended the contest with eight missed field goals, two of which were blocked shots.

“It’s not intentional, but maybe we stopped attacking,” Courtney Vandersloot said. “Maybe we were scared to lose, rather than trying to win. I feel like we got good looks. we just didn’t knock them down.”

The Sky went 2-for-15 from the field to end the contest. During the fourth quarter, Allie Quigley was 0-for-5, Meesseman was 1-for-4, Copper was 1-for-3, Vandersloot was 1-for-2, and Rebekah Garder was 0-for-1. In that stretch, the usually poised Vandersloot also committed three turnovers and Azurá Stevens committed one.

“We just couldn’t get a basket,” coach James Wade said. “I thought there were a couple of layups that we didn’t make, but other than that, it was tough for us to navigate around them and get to the lane.”

Only four of Chicago’s 15 shots in the fourth quarter came in the paint, with one make — a driving layup from Copper.

Meanwhile, absent from the fourth-quarter shot chart was Parker, whose last field-goal attempt came with 3:42 left in the third quarter when her team led by 12 points. Her last make, a 3-pointer assisted by Copper, came 32 seconds earlier.

Overall, Parker attempted just seven shots in the game, finishing with seven points and nine rebounds. Prior to Thursday’s contest, Parker had averaged 18.4 points per game against the Sun this season.

IN TRANSITION!! #CTSun pic.twitter.com/78VbamC2O4

— Connecticut Sun (@ConnecticutSun) September 9, 2022

The Sun threw a three-player attack at her defensively, with Thomas, Jonquel Jones and Brionna Jones all taking their turn at the two-time WNBA MVP. Connecticut placed a clear emphasis on stopping Parker from even getting the ball, as evidenced by her few shot attempts.

“I have three All-Star post players,” Miller said. “I have that luxury. It’s not always easy to figure out how to keep them all on the floor together, but they get to practice against each other every day. So when we get an opportunity to practice, there are great battles going on amongst them.”

But it wasn’t just the post defense that propelled the Sun to a win. In the fourth quarter, their entire unit stepped up, tapping into newfound energy.

Miller has said many times during the postseason that his team needs to make things messy to win, and Connecticut’s brand of chaos defined the fourth quarter.

As the Sun surged, the offensive flow the Sky have become known for slipped away.

“I think slowly but surely, we stopped playing beautiful basketball,” Parker said. “And I’m not taking any credit away from what Connecticut did or didn’t do, but I think that we are at a level where we are passing and moving and cutting for each other, and screening for each other and making plays for each other. We were at that level this season, and we stopped doing that.”

Connecticut closed out the game on an 18-0 run, the longest in WNBA playoff history. The five points Chicago scored were also the fewest ever by a team in a series-deciding playoff game.

The offensive breakdown to end the game was head-scratching to say the least, especially when you consider the success of the Sky’s attack throughout the season.

Chicago averaged 86.3 points per game this season, second in the WNBA after the Las Vegas Aces. Their 63 points on Thursday marked their lowest total of the season. They also scored just 63 points in their loss to the Sun in Game 1 of the semifinals. Prior to that contest, Chicago’s season-low point total was 71 in a May 18 loss to Seattle.

“This is tough,” Wade said. “This is probably one of the biggest disappointments I’ve had professionally. The players gave it everything this year. They did everything, and I thought they deserved a little bit more.”

With the loss, Chicago ended its bid to be the first team to win back-to-back championships since the Los Angeles Sparks in 2001 and 2002.

Now, the Sky head into an offseason with much uncertainty about their future. Of their starting five, only Kahleah Copper is under contract for the 2023 season. Parker, Quigley, Vandersloot, Meesseman and Stevens are all unrestricted free agents.

After signing with her hometown team and winning a championship last season, the 36-year-old Parker said Thursday that she is undecided about retirement but will know it’s time to hang it up when she’s “not able to go out and play and be the Candace that I want to be.”

With Thursday’s game serving as an anomaly from the rest of Parker’s playoff performances, the Sky can hope that time hasn’t come yet.

“I thought they gave it as much as we could,” Wade said. “And we just came up short.”

Eden Laase is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.

Adding to their already historic season, 2024/25 WSL champions and 2025 League Cup winners Chelsea FC handed Manchester United a 3-0 defeat in Sunday's 2025 FA Cup final, completing the club's second-ever domestic treble.

Though the Blues first claimed an elusive treble in the 2020/21 season, this year's roster did so without dropping a single match in any of the three domestic competitions.

"I could not have expected this," said first-year Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor about her debut success leading the Blues. "It is almost ideal in terms of domestic dominance."

To clinch that dominance, Chelsea upended the defending FA Cup champs Manchester United at London's iconic Wembley Stadium behind a brace from French fullback Sandy Baltimore and a header from USWNT attacker Catarina Macario.

Baltimore gave Chelsea the lead by slipping a late first-half penalty past 2024/25 WSL Golden Glove winner and USWNT goalkeeper prospect Phallon Tullis-Joyce, and the Blues never relented, with second-half sub Macario doubling their scoreline in the 84th minute before Baltimore tacked on a final goal in stoppage time.

"It's a very emotional day," an emotional Macario told the broadcast after finishing her first season following a long ACL recovery. "It's a trophy we always wanted to win."

"All the credit to my players," said Bompastor. "We showed our mentality and our values in this game so we ended the season in an almost perfect scenario – we won, we were playing at Wembley, the stadium was nearly sold out, and we had a strong performance and result against a strong opponent."

"It is an almost ideal way to finish the season."

FA Cup crowds prove sustained demand for women's soccer

Chelsea FC's undefeated treble-winning season wasn't the only notable victory on Sunday, as the FA Cup final drew a crowd of over 74,000 fans for the third straight year.

Sunday's 74,412 attendance mark was just shy of both last year's crowd of 76,082 and the 77,390 fans who watched Chelsea defeat the Red Devils in 2023 — all well beyond the tournament final's previous record of 49,094 attendees achieved in 2022.

Fueled by the football fervor following England's 2022 Euro victory — the country's first international trophy, men's or women's, since the 1966 men's World Cup — the 2023 FA Cup final still stands as the largest crowd at a domestic women's soccer match across all nations.

With Sunday's match joining the over-74,000 attendance club, it's clear the post-Euros enthusiasm wasn't a blip, but a boost to the continued growth and sustained success of the women's game.

While most WNBA stars hit the court running this weekend, a few saw their 2025 campaigns already shortened as teams released season-opening injury reports.

Phoenix forward Kahleah Copper will miss four to six weeks of play, the Mercury reported on Saturday, after the 2024 Olympic gold medalist underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on her left knee last week.

Another knee injury has LA's Rae Burrell sidelined for the next six to eight weeks, after the fourth-year guard took a knock to the right leg just 41 seconds into the Sparks' 2025 debut win over Golden State.

On Friday, the Mystics released updates on both second-year forward Aaliyah Edwards and rookie guard Georgia Amoore. While another assessment of the Unrivaled 1v1 runner-up's back injury will occur in two more weeks, Washington confirmed that the Australian standout will miss the entire 2025 WNBA season after undergoing a successful surgery to repair her right ACL.

Seattle's Katie Lou Samuelson is also out for the full 2025 campaign, with the 27-year-old Storm forward recovering from last week's successful surgery after tearing her right ACL in practice on May 1st.

Kitley makes long-awaited WNBA debut as Brink eyes return

In more uplifting news, LA's Cameron Brink is on track to return to the Sparks sometime next month, one year after her standout rookie season came to a halt in a left ACL tear.

Already celebrating, however, is 2024 second-round draftee Elizabeth Kitley, who battled back from injury to make her WNBA debut and score her first league points in Las Vegas's Saturday loss to New York.

The Aces took a draft chance on Kitley, despite the center suffering an ACL tear in her final NCAA postseason. In response, the former Virginia Tech star successfully translated her year-long delayed shot at a pro career by surviving Las Vegas's brutal 2025 roster cuts.

Notably, Kitley's close friend and collegiate on-court counterpart with the Hokies is the aforementioned Amoore, who will aim for a rookie-season redo of her own next year.

The No. 1 Kansas City Current strengthened their grip on the 2025 NWSL Shield race on Friday, taking down now-No. 3 Orlando 1-0 on the road to earn a four-point lead atop of the NWSL table.

Reigning league MVP Temwa Chawinga scored the top-table game's lone goal. With five goals in nine matches, Chawinga now sits in a four-way tie for second place in the 2025 Golden Boot race.

"If you don't come with heart, you have no chance," Current head coach Vlatko Andonovski said after the match. "And today I think we showed heart."

Kansas City now stands 7-2-0 on the season, putting the NWSL Shield firmly within their grasp.

Kansas City's rise aside, the weekend's biggest drama hovered near the playoff line.

Gotham FC fell to No. 2 San Diego 1-0 on Friday, sending the Bats skidding to No. 8 on a three-game winless streak while boxing No. 9 North Carolina out of playoff contention — despite the rising Courage securing their third win in four games with Saturday's 2-0 victory over last-place Chicago.

"Obviously, we were hot for a little bit, and teams have slumps all the time, so now it's just finding a way," Gotham midfielder Jaelin Howell said of the team's recent struggles.

While some rebuilds soar, last year's postseason contenders are still finding their way as the league moves into the second third of the 2025 season.

Indiana's 35-point blowout win over Chicago wasn't Saturday's only newsmaker, as a controversial foul on Sky forward Angel Reese by Fever guard Caitlin Clark sparked intense off-court conversations and a WNBA investigation into subsequent fan misconduct.

Clark's third-quarter foul against Reese incited a brief dust-up between the second-year stars, with Clark's offense upgraded to a Flagrant 1 while Reese and Fever center Aliyah Boston picked up a pair of offsetting technicals for their reactions.

"Basketball play. Refs got it right. Move on," Reese said after the game, while Clark told reporters, "It was just a good play on the basketball. I'm not sure what the ref saw to upgrade it, and that's up to their discretion."

Immediately following the flagrant ruling, however, Indiana fans allegedly directed racially charged remarks toward Reese, prompting the league to open an investigation on Sunday.

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Officials acknowledged allegations of racist abuse inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse, saying the WNBA "strongly condemns racism, hate, and discrimination in all forms," and that they're "looking into the matter."

"We stand firm in our commitment to providing a safe environment for all WNBA players," said Pacers Sports & Entertainment CEO Mel Raines, who oversees the Fever, in a statement.

"We will do everything in our power to protect Chicago Sky players, and we encourage the league to continue taking meaningful steps to create a safe environment for all WNBA players," echoed Sky CEO and president Adam Fox.

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time Fever-related fan misconduct has taken center stage, as last season's storylines start to spill over into the 2025 WNBA campaign.

In anticipation of the issue, the league launched "No Space for Hate" on Thursday, describing the campaign as "a multi-dimensional platform designed to combat hate and promote respect across all WNBA spaces — from online discourse to in-arena behavior."