Liberty Champ Welcomes First Child
Former New York Liberty star added one of the best kind of plus-ones to her personal box score.
The lauded WNBA backcourt star and her wife Allie Quigley have announced the arrival of their first child, a daughter named Jana Christine, in an exclusive shoot with People.
The couple, commonly referred to by WNBA fans as "VanderQugis," is said to be "over the moon" over their newcomer's arrival in the profile penned by People's Skyler Caruso. Jana Christine reportedly arrived almost exactly one month ago on April 8. She partly shares her name with Vandersloot's late mother Jan, who passed away after a cancer battle last summer.
Vandersloot, 36, spent the last two years with the Liberty and was part of the famed veteran class the Liberty acquired during the 2023 offseason (which also included Jonquel Jones, Breanna Stewart, and Kayla Thornton). She and former Chicago Sky teammate Quigley have been married since December 2018 in her home state of Washington, where she was born in Kent and attended Gonzaga University.
In two seasons with the Liberty, Vandersloot averaged 8.7 points and 6.6 assists and led the league in the latter category during her 2023 debut. The Liberty reached the WNBA Finals in each of her two seasons in seafoam and won last year's championship in a five-game set against the Minnesota Lynx. It was Vandersloot's second championship, as she and Quigley won one together with the Sky in 2021. Quigley was constantly spotted in Barclays Center's prime seating throughout the trek.
After partaking in Stewart's Unrivaled league over the offseason (where she played with Stewart on Mist BC), Vandersloot is set to re-join the Sky, where she played 12 seasons before New York came calling in 2023. She enters this season ranked second in all-time WNBA assists and as the holder of several Sky franchise records. Quigley is right behind her in several of those categories, and Vandersloot will pass her wife with 20 more field goals in a Sky uniform to take over that title as well.
Vandersloot will no earn a warm reception when she is presented her championship ring upon Chicago's first visit to Brooklyn on June 10.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
Geoff Magliocchetti is a veteran sportswriter who contributes to a variety of sites on the "On SI" network. In addition to the Yankees/Mets, Geoff also covers the New York Knicks, New York Liberty, and New York Giants and has previously written about the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Staten Island Yankees, and NASCAR.