South Carolina alum scores playoff best to move one game away from WNBA Finals

On the same day that news broke about how she’d be spending her offseason (moonlighting for the Women’s Chinese Basketball Association’s Liaoning Flying Eagles), former South Carolina women’s basketball great Ty Harris had a huge night in the WNBA Playoffs.

Posting her career-best playoff scoring number, Harris dropped 20 points to keep her Connecticut Sun team alive. Going 7-for-11 from the field and shooting 4-for-5 from the 3-point arc, Harris also saved her best for last. With the Lynx threatening to make things close again, Harris scored eight of her team’s ten points over a five-minute stretch, including back-to-back perimeter jumpers that crushed Minnesota’s comeback attempts. She also added three rebounds and a perfect 2-for-2 effort from the free throw line.

Making the performance even more remarkable was the fact Harris was playing on a balky ankle. The athletic guard hurt her ankle early in the Sun’s series win over the Indiana Fever, but the Sun went on to eliminate former Gamecocks Aliyah Boston and Victaria Saxton without Harris available. In fact, until her game 4 performance against Minnesota on Sunday, she had only played 13 minutes since the injury.

Former South Carolina guard Tiffany Mitchell missed the game as she continues to recover from an illness.

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Not only did Harris’ performance keep her team alive in the WNBA Playoffs’ semifinal round, it brought them one game closer to their championship goal and evened the series, 2-2. The series finale is set for Tuesday, October 6th, and a trip to the WNBA Finals is on the line. The Sun are playing for the chance at their third WNBA Finals appearance. The franchise has never won a title.

The winner of the best-of-5 matchup will travel to New York to face the 1-seed New York Liberty on Thursday. The Liberty eliminated A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday, ending their quest for a 3-peat.

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