The Chicago Sky lost an overtime thriller to the Seattle Storm on Friday after giving up an 11-point lead they had to begin the fourth quarter. The Storm outscored the Sky 25-14 in the fourth to force overtime and take the victory.
“We did a good job on offense and scored the ball well,” said General Manager and Head Coach Amber Stocks. “It was tough that we couldn’t get key defensive rebounds down the stretch as well as giving up too many free-throw opportunities for Seattle. Jewell Loyd and Breanna Stewart had big games. It was just a handful to contain the pins and flares for Stewart and Loyd.”
Loyd and Stewart combined for 57 of Seattle’s 95 points, including Loyd making two key 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
The Sky held an 82-71 lead at the 4:03 mark of the fourth quarter after a basket by rookie forward Gabby Williams. An 8-0 run by Seattle brought the Storm to within three.
Sky forward Cheyenne Parker hit a layup to make the score 84-79 before a 3-pointer by Loyd forced a Chicago timeout up 84-82. Parker finished with a team-high eight rebounds.
The Sky got the ball inbounded to rookie guard Diamond DeShields, who got fouled and hit two free throws to put Chicago up 86-82. DeShields finished with a season-high 19 points in the game.
The Storm got another triple from Loyd to draw to within one point. Sky guard Allie Quigley hit 1-of-2 free throws to put the Sky back up two with 14.7 seconds left.
A putback layup on an offensive rebound from Storm forward Natasha Howard knotted the game at 87-87. Seattle won the offensive rebounding battle 14-7.
After an empty possession from the Sky, the Storm could not get a 3-pointer to go at the buzzer and the game went to overtime. Quigley took an apparent knee to the groin while defending the final shot by Loyd in regulation and did not play in overtime.
The Sky were outscored by Seattle 8-4 in overtime as DeShields was the only one to score for Chicago in the extra period. Stocks said not having Quigley in overtime made a difference.
“That was unfortunate,” Stocks said. “Literally an unfortunate hit – a literal hit that she took that kept her out. Pun intended. It doesn’t look good [groin injury].”
Quigley finished the game with a season-high 23 points, but said the pain wasn’t tolerable enough to play in overtime.
“I’m going to see the doctor,” Quigley said. “Something doesn’t feel good. When Jewell [Loyd] took the last shot [in regulation] she kneed me somewhere. I tried [to play in overtime], but just couldn’t lift my leg up like I wanted to.”
Storm guard Sue Bird played in her 480th career game and passed Swin Cash for No. 4 on the all-time list of games played.
Backup point guard Jamierra Faulkner finished with a career-high nine assists in a team-high 33:28 minutes.
Chicago’s next game is at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, June 1 at Wintrust Arena. Tickets are still available and start as low as $13. To reserve your seat, visit sky.wnba.com/tickets or by calling (866) SKY-WNBA