It hasn’t been the best of times for the Chicago Sky. But on Wednesday night, it wasn’t the worst of times. At least for one night;
They notched their first win after a six-game losing streak, beating the Portland Fire, 101-78. After trailing 6-0 at the outset, the Sky attacked the paint, pushed the tempo, grabbed rebounds and shot the ball well.
Overall, the Sky finished the game shooting 52.2 percent from the field, outrebounded Portland 38-29, scored 56 points in the paint and tallied 22 second-chance
points.
Furthermore, seven Chicago players scored in double figures. Skylar Diggins led the way with 15 points, in addition to dishing six assists and grabbing three rebounds. Sydney Taylor and Jacy Sheldon each came away with 14 points, with Taylor adding four assists and Sheldon with three.
Lately, Taylor has become a fan favorite for her unflinching, blistering confidence and fearlessness. Over the last seven games, she has averaged 13 points per game. Taylor has scored in double figures in the last five games, beginning with 30 points against the Indiana Fever on June 11.
After the game, head coach Tyler Marsh praised Taylor’s confidence and contributions, saying:
People know now what she’s capable of doing, and that in itself holds some weight when she’s out there, just whether it’s helping us space the floor or just giving another downhill body to kind of loosen the defense a little bit. And then she’s agile defensively as well. So she’s been great for us, and she had another really good night tonight. So we’re all proud of her.
Kamilla Cardoso locked it down in the paint, finishing with 13 points as well as eight rebounds. Azurá Stevens finished with a double double of 11 points and 11 rebounds along with five assists. Gabriela Jaquez came away with 10 points and five assists.
The unsung hero off the bench was Alicia Coulibaly with 10 points, three rebounds and two steals. After the game, she was rewarded with the trademark dog chain given by Marsh to the player that made the greatest impact.
Natasha Cloud added nine points, four rebounds and four assists of her own.
The Sky have a rematch against the Fire on Friday at home before taking on the Las Vegas Aces at the United Center on Sunday. With the cluster of a schedule, not too much recovery time, on top of coming up short in recent winnable games, Cloud says the Sky are taking one game at a time, explaining:
A little bit of our focus here of late is just simplifying things and not adding so much pressure. We see this record. We should have pulled some of these wins out, but we are committed to being focused on resetting each day and being able to have the blessing of each day is a new day to reset and come back in and just re-attack it. So tomorrow it starts with our film session and our walkthrough, trying to protect our bodies here a little bit because we keep adding games.
