The struggle is ever so real with the Chicago Sky.
On Friday, they closed out the week with their fourth-consecutive loss, falling 79-58 to the Minnesota Lynx.
Fresh off a 110-104 loss to the Toronto Tempo on Wednesday, the common denominator in both defeats was their collapse in the 3rd quarter. Much like allowing Toronto to jumped out to an 11-4 run on Wednesday, the Sky allowed for the Lynx to go on a 12-0 run on Friday. This came after the Sky managed to end the first half trailing 33-30.
A combination
of a lack of perimeter defense, poor transition defense and turnovers did the Sky in as they were outscored 31-16 in the third quarter. Although they mounted somewhat of a run heading into the fourth quarter, the Lynx had too many weapons in their arsenal.
Kamilla Cardoso, battling through an illness, finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Skylar Diggins matched her with 12 points of her own, including five rebounds and three assists. Rachel Banham had eight points and seven rebounds. Sydney Taylor finished with seven points and four assists. Natasha Cloud, also fighting illness, walked away with six points and for rebounds.
Nia Coffey led the game with 20 points and eight rebounds for the the Lynx. Olivia Miles finished with 17 points along with six assists. Natasha Howard came away with 14 points and seven rebounds. Courtney Williams had 10 points and five assists. Kayla McBride had nine points, five rebounds, and three steals.
Afterward, Banham attributed the “lack of focus” to their downturn in the 3rd quarter. She explained:
We’ve talked about how we’ve started, games haven’t always been great, and then I know, like, we’re seeing that in the third quarter as well, so that’s lack of focus, When you come out of the locker room. That’s when you should be really locked in. We’ve talked about things we want to work on, things we want to change, how we want to approach, and then we come out, and then we’re flat.
There’s really no excuse; it’s on us to come out with better energy. We’re just flat with a lack of focus, not disciplined at times, so… that’s fully on us. We have to be better with that.
Meanwhile, head coach Tyler Marsh didn’t pinpoint the problem to a single aspect, although he did credit his team’s effort, saying:
It could be a number of things. I’m not sure how many turnovers we had in that third quarter, but I mean, giving up 31 and a quarter is tough. You have three quarters where you hold them under 20, a team that can really score the ball, and so, obviously that third quarter was a separator for us, and for whatever the reason is, we gotta identify it and move forward, but…I thought that the effort was there for the most part.
