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Coming off an unexpectedly wild weekend in Indiana, the Chicago Sky were ready and roaring to shake off the disappointment against the highly-touted New York Liberty on Tuesday night. However, they were met with more disappointment, as the Sky weren’t able to hold the edge and were defeated, 88-75, when the wheels fell off at the wrong time.
At the outset, the Liberty had the advantage, establishing a 31-15 lead by the end of the first quarter; at one point, New York led by as many as 17 points. But in the second quarter, Chicago charged all the way back, outscoring New York 33-18 in the period and ending the first half trailing by one point, 49-48.
In the third quarter, neither could grab the upper hand. It was a back-and-forth battle with the Sky holding on to a 66-65 lead going into the final quarter. As the fourth quarter unfolded, exhaustion from an up-tempo game ended up consuming the Sky as the Liberty dominated on their way to the victory, besting Chicago 23-9 in the final frame.
In a dramatic climax with 2:31 left in the game, Angel Reese was assessed a double technical foul for disagreeing with the referee over a foul call and subsequently was ejected from the game. Lead official Maj Forsberg said after the game that Reese was given the double technical for “disrespectfully addressing” the official and “waving her hand in dismissal.” On Tuesday afternoon, the WNBA rescinded the second technical foul. Reese has been fined $200 for the one technical foul.
Head coach Teresa Weatherspoon said in the postgame press conference that she asked for clarification, but received no answer. “I tried to get an explanation. I did not,” she said. “I don’t know to this moment what has happened.”
Despite the loss, several Sky players put up some notable performances.
Chennedy Carter
Coming off the bench to a thunderous applause from the crowd at Wintrust Arena and with eyes on her after the squabble with Caitlin Clark, Carter played with an admirable defiance and tenacity. She hit her marks on both ends of the floor, leading her to finish with 16 points, three rebounds and three steals. And despite her heavy ball-handling responsibilities, she had only one turnover.
Marina Mabrey
After not scoring in the first quarter, Mabrey came alive in the second quarter with 10 points. She ended the game with 15 points, five assists and six rebounds; she also was a perfect 5-for-5 at the free throw line.
Though the Sky have proven that they could contend with teams such as the Liberty—evidenced by Chicago winning in New York on May 23—Mabrey said that is not enough. “We’re not satisfied with that,” she said. “We should have won this game. So I think we are pretty disappointed with that to be honest.”
Elizabeth Williams
Up against Jonquel Jones in the paint, Williams went toe to toe with her fellow veteran. In the end, she came away with 10 points and eight rebounds. She also led the team with 62.5 percent shooting.
Angel Reese
Despite the ejection at the end, Reese came away with another double-double as she finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds. She also shot 87.5 percent from the free throw line. She held her own going up against Jones and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton on the blocks and in the post.
The Bench
As a collective, the Chicago bench was unstoppable. In addition to the explosiveness of Carter, Lindsay Allen finished with six points, as did Isabelle Harrison. Kamilla Cardoso, who made her home debut after making her official debut on Saturday in Indiana, was able to put in some considerable time, even though she is still finding her footing after missing significant time with a shoulder injury. Though she only scored one point, she did come away with five rebounds. In all, the Sky outscored the Liberty in bench points, 24-6.
After the game, Weatherspoon spoke about the bench’s production, saying:
That’s a great sign for us. We’re gonna only be as good as what our bench can do, how productive that bench is. We have a very very good bench. We’re pretty deep in every position and for them to come off and have the type of game that they did in this type of atmosphere against this type of team, we are gonna build off of that. That’s a positive for us to know we have that coming off the bench.
The Chicago Sky (3-5) will take on the Washington Mystics (0-9) on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.