Sydney Taylor scored 30 points against the Fever on June 11, and she did it in 21 or fewer minutes. The undrafted rookie guard turned a slow start into a career high and joined a tiny slice of WNBA history.
Sydney Taylor and the Fever
The Sky were down 35-19 on the road when she entered with 6:22 left in the second quarter. Taylor answered with a driving layup at 4:21 and another at 1:41, then stacked nine quick points as Chicago cut the lead to single digits.
That burst kept the game from slipping away early. By the end of the night, Taylor had reached 30 points, a mark no other WNBA player besides one had ever hit in 21 or fewer minutes.
Career High for Taylor in
The scoring outburst did not come out of nowhere. On May 27, Taylor had already led the Sky in scoring for the first time in her young career with 27 points in 23 minutes against Toronto at home. By June 11, she had already shown she could carry a larger load when the game tilted toward her.
Her efficiency over the last two games was the other part of the story. Taylor averaged 27 points while shooting 66.7% from the field and 57.1% from three, numbers that explain how a 24-year-old rookie forced her way into a featured role so quickly.
New York and Taylor in the
The next step came on Wednesday, when Taylor earned the first start of her career against New York and led the Sky with 24 points. Chicago built a quick 15-point lead with her in the starting five, and she later hit a three-pointer with 15.6 seconds left to put the Sky ahead 95-94.
New York still won on a last-minute bucket. Candace Parker’s reaction after Taylor hit her ninth field goal and third three-pointer of the night captured the scale of the stretch: “Are you kidding me”.
That is the line Taylor is drawing now — a 30-point game on June 11, a first start, and another high-scoring night against New York, with the only real question being how long this scoring run can hold once defenses adjust.
