Banham scores 13 points in her WNBA debut

The former Gopher was 5-for-11 from the field, including 3-for-9 from three-point range.

May 15, 2016 at 3:21AM
Chicago's Tamera Young, left, battled Connecticut's Rachel Banham for a loose ball during Saturday's WNBA opener in Chicago. Banham, an All-America player for the Gophers, scored 13 points in her pro debut, but the Sky beat the Sun 93-70.
Chicago's Tamera Young, left, battled Connecticut's Rachel Banham for a loose ball during Saturday's WNBA opener in Chicago. Banham, an All-America player for the Gophers, scored 13 points in her pro debut, but the Sky beat the Sun 93-70. (Randy Johnson — AP/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Former Gophers All-America guard Rachel Banham scored 13 points in her WNBA debut for the Connecticut Sun on Saturday night in Chicago.

Banham, who played 15 minutes off the bench, was one of only two players to score in double figures for the Sun, who lost 93-70 to the Sky.

Banham was 5-for-11 from the field, including 3-for-9 from three-point range.

She was the fourth overall pick in this spring's WNBA draft after averaging 28.3 points per game in her final season with the Gophers.

The Sky won by 23 despite playing without star player Elena Delle Donne.

In other openers:

• Former Lynx guard Sugar Rodgers scored 19 points to help the New York Liberty beat the host Washington Mystics 87-76. Tayler Hill of Minneapolis scored 20 points for the Mystics.

• The Dallas Wings, formerly the Tulsa Shock, made their WNBA debut and beat the host Indiana Fever 90-79. Wings star Skylar Diggins, who tore her ACL last season, did not play. The team said that she is day-to-day.

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Former UConn star Breanna Stewart, the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, will make her WNBA debut for the Seattle Storm on Sunday at Los Angeles.

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