CHICAGO — It was late in the third quarter when Angel Reese found herself on the ground again, locked in a losing battle under the basket with veteran power forward Alyssa Thomas.
Before Saturday’s game — her long-awaited, regular-season home debut — Reese said she was excited to play against Thomas, a skilled, bruising post player she used to watch at the University of Maryland.
And even after getting choke-slammed to the ground by Thomas as they tangled for a rebound late in the third quarter — a play that earned Thomas the heave-ho with a flagrant-2 foul — Reese wasn’t changing her tune following the undefeated Connecticut Sun’s 86-82 win over Chicago at Wintrust Arena.
“It’s no hard feelings to A.T.,” she said. “Obviously, I know she purposely, probably, didn’t do it towards me, but just being able to come out there and just be strong and stand on two feet, it was going to be a tough game and that’s what I’m built for. And my teammates had my back throughout the whole game. So I was prepared for it.”
A rookie getting abused by a veteran they once idolized? A tale as old as basketball. But Reese, who had 13 points and five rebounds in 33 minutes, 7 seconds, seemed kind of annoyed when it was suggested this was a “welcome to the WNBA…
