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Sylvia Fowles leads Sky

Jul 2, 2010 - 3:16 AM ROSEMONT, Ill.(AP) -- Sylvia Fowles had 26 points and 11 rebounds to help the Chicago Sky beat the Connecticut Sun 92-80 on Thursday night.

"Sylvia was great," Sun coach Mike Thibault said. "It didn't matter what defense we were in, they started out making 3s early. By the time we decided how hard we really had to play to win we had to big of a hole to dig out of.

Tamera Young added 15 points, Mistie Bass had 13, Erin Thorn 12 and Jia Perkins 11 for the Sky (7-9). Chicago guard Dominique Canty had seven points and became the ninth WNBA player to reach 2,500 points, 900 rebounds and 900 assists.

"It's a great honor to be up there with the elite players in the WNBA," said Canty, a 12-year WNBA player in her fourth season with her hometown team. "Just to be in the same sentence with them is pretty much a blessing."

Sky reserve Erin Thorn also hit a career milestone, topping 1,500 points with a second-quarter 3-pointer.

"It's definitely something to be proud of," said Thorn, in her eighth WNBA season. "But it's more about the team for me than it is my individual stuff."

Sandrine Gruda led the Sun (10-6) with 17 points. Asjha Jones added 16.

Young scored 10 first-quarter points and Chicago shot 64.3 percent (9 of 14) while Connecticut managed just 6 of 18. The Sky led by 17 points in the period.

The Sky opened a 24-point lead at 53-29 at halftime after shooting a team-record 67.9 percent (19 of 28). The Sun rallied in the third quarter, with Kara Lawson's buzzer-beating 3-pointer cutting it to 66-57.

The Sun closed within eight points with 3:51 to play, but Fowles scored six points in the next 2:21 to put the game away.

"I would like to hope that (the big win) is not an isolated event," Sky coach Steven Key said. "That's what we've been talking about when we lost those three games in a row after winning four in a row. That is what we're looking for ... That's the way we have to play every night."