With 12.9 seconds left in the game and the Sky leading, Rebekah Gardner cornered Natisha Heideman. With the clock winding, Gardner poked the ball away, picking up her 3rd steal and sealing the Sky’s 83-79 win over the Connecticut Sun.

Coming into this game, both the Sun and the Sky led the WNBA in points scored in the 4th quarter, with 22.9 and 22.0 points per game respectively. In this contest, the Sky outscored the Sun 24-17 in the 4th quarter.

“I thought we were connected,” head coach James Wade said after the game. “I thought we had a sense of urgency. We just had to attack them. We wanted to make sure we made it as hard as possible for them, and we did that tonight.”

Emma Meesseman put up a season-high 26 points to help lift the Sky over the Sun. In the first half, Meesseman shot 90 percent from the floor, putting up 20 of her 26 points.

“She doesn’t take people out of their offense,” Wade said. “So it actually helps her find her rhythm, because she’s able to share. The fact that we have great passers on our team helps her out a lot. “

“I think we were just moving a lot,” Meesseman said. “I think this is one of the first games where we came in focused from the beginning. We were sharing the ball, moving the ball without thinking too much. I was just moving and got open shots.”

The Sun rattled off a couple of solid stretches in the game against the Sky defense, going on a 16-4 run to end the 1st quarter and a 9-0 run to open up the 3rd quarter. As she has done all season, Gardner provided the 3rd quarter spark, putting up 14 total points on the night with 10 coming in the 2nd half.

The Sky are still perfect and are No. 1 in the Eastern Conference in the Commissioner’s Cup, sitting at 6-0 after the win over the Sun. Overall, the Sky are 8-4 thus far this season. 

The Sky will wrap up their road trip in New York when they take on the Liberty on Sunday, June 12. Tip time is set for 1 p.m. on Marquee Plus.