Guest Contributor Article by Daulton Cooper
Chicago Sky showing signs of life.
The Chicago Sky embarked on a 3 games in 4 days adventure. Unfortunately the team posted a record of 1-2 in the stretch with road losses to Phoenix and Atlanta but ended on a high note with victory over the Los Angeles Sparks at home.
The Sky allowed the Mercury to make a franchise high 17 three pointers in their 107-86 home loss on Saturday (6/21). The game got out of hand early with the Sky’s slow start being outscored by 13 points in the first quarter, the Mercury never looked back. Phoenix had 6 different players score double digits in the contest, and shot 51.5% from the field. F Michaela Onyenwere was one of the lone bright spots for the Sky as posted a season high 17 points on 6-9 shooting off the bench in 24 minutes.
The Sky turned around the next day and headed down to ATL for the second of a back-to-back with the Atlanta Dream. There was no jet-lag to be seen here as the Sky showed fight and tenacity and only trailed by one point at halftime. The game was tied heading into the fourth quarter, and the Dream turned into a nightmare for the Sky. The Dream posted a 48.5% from deep in the game going 16 of 33 including 6 in the 4th quarter to down the Sky 93-80. G Ariel Atkins and backup C Elizabeth Williams kept the Sky in this game. Atkins posted 29 points while Williams added 16 points on 8-12 shooting in 22 minutes – a season high. The effort and energy was consistent for the Sky but the shot making took a turn for the worse in the 4th quarter. With the loss, the Sky dropped to 3-10 on the season and 6 losses out of 7.
Which led us to Tuesday night, the Sky returned home to take on the LA Sparks in a match-up of 4 win squads. The Sparks started the game with a 3 pointer and finished the 1st quarter with a 12 point advantage. Recent history would tell us the Sky were in for a long night, though history would not repeat itself on this night. The Sky outscored the Sparks 80-57 the rest of the way, including a 30-point 4th quarter for the Sky. C Kamilla Cardoso led the way for Chicago; she scored a career high 27 points, including her first ever 3 point field goal in her career in the third quarter. F Angel Reese made her presence felt with a double-double too, adding 18 points and 17 rebounds in the winning effort. All in all it was great team defense and care of the basketball that had the Sky break the cold spell. Head Coach, Tyler Marsh, mentioned post game, “The effort we gave in the Atlanta game and the effort we gave tonight that let’s us know we are trending in the right direction.”
With the victory on Tuesday, the Sky moved to 4-10 on the season and will look for their second straight victory on Friday night as they travel to Golden State to take on the WNBA’s newest team the Valkyries. The Valkyries projected win total was just 7.5 on the season, but already are at 7-6 on the season.
Until next time.
DAC