GAME HIGHLIGHTS:
- There were 19 lead changes in the game. Chicago led by as much as 11 and Indiana as much as seven.
- The game went into double-overtime. This was the third overtime game this season for both the Sky and the Fever.
- The Sky scored a franchise-high 115 points, surpassing the record of 114 the team scored on July 20 against Dallas.
- Candice Dupree moved into No. 8 on the WNBA All-Time Points Leaderboard with 30 points in the game, she now has 6035 career points.
SKY NOTES:
- Diamond DeShields shot at 75 percent in the first half. She ended the game with 24 points shooting at 68.8 percent on the game.
- Chicago outrebounded Indiana 55-41 led by Alaina Coates’ 10 rebounds, tying her season high.
- Courtney Vandersloot hit two clutch free-throws to force the first overtime. She finished the game with 24 points, 10 assists, and nine rebounds.
- The Sky had three players score 20 or more points: Diamond DeShields (24), Courtney Vandersloot (24), and Cheyenne Parker (20). Kahleah Copper (12) and Allie Quigley (12) also scored in double-digits for Chicago.
- Cheyenne Parker tied her career-high 20 points. She shot at 57.1 percent going 8-for-14 in the game.
- The Chicago Sky’s bench outscored the Indiana Fever’s bench 46 to 24.
FEVER NOTES:
- Candice Dupree scored a season-high 30 points and she added eight rebounds and three blocks.
- Indiana had five players in double-digits: Candice Dupree (30), Natalie Achonwa (21), Victoria Vivians (15), Tiffany Mitchell (16), and Erica Wheeler (14).
- Tiffany Mitchell shot at 50 percent on the game. She also had seven assists, three steals, and three rebounds.
- Natalie Achonwa had a career-high six blocks. She also scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
- The Fever led the game in second-chance points (13-11), and fast-break points (15-11).
POSTGAME NOTES:
SKY HEAD COACH AND GENERAL MANAGER AMBER STOCKS
On being up 3 points at halftime and down one at the end of the third quarter:
“Well Indiana is a unique team in that they have some potent offense coming off the bench with Tiffany Mitchell and Kelsey Mitchell and when those two get on the court the tempo and the whole atmosphere of the game changes. We’ve got to be mindful of that going into tomorrow’s game as well I credit our team for really sticking together, and everybody has a specific job to do and Diamond DeShields for us is to be efficient on offense and to get stops on defense. She was charged with stopping Victoria Vivians and Vivians did have 2 three’s but for the most part Diamond did a very good job of taking the 3-point game away from Vivians. Quigley has an important job but although she didn’t play a lot of minutes but came in and did her job at the end which was hit a couple of big three’s. And then of course Vandersloot has a job which is to be the general of this team and she did just that 40 minutes and she is no spring chicken.”
SKY GUARD DIAMOND DESHIELDS
“You know coming into it, we know what the situation is for both teams. We’re not really playing for anything. But at the end of day, we’re competitors. So you know we want to go out with a bang and carry the momentum into next season. Just trying to have fun out there and keep our momentum going and we still have room to grow. We’re going to use this last game to try and get better.”
SKY GUARD COURTNEY VANDERSLOOT
On playing the Fever again, tomorrow:
“Well that’s the name of the game I guess. We would go double overtime on a back to back. Just kind of how it’s gone for us. You know it’s easy at least to prepare, preparation wise, we’re already prepared for them. Just have to turn around and do it again tomorrow. That’s part of being a pro. And figure it out.”
FEVER HEAD COACH POKEY CHATMAN
“We had our opportunities to win the basketball game. We played really well in spurts and we did a good job of taking care of the basketball, but we got sloppy in overtime.”
On Candice Dupree:
“She’s a special player. I coached her in USA Basketball and overseas. She’s always been this way. She’s steady, she’s smart, she rises to the occasion and plays the game the way it’s supposed to be played. I am proud to have coached her.”
On second OT:
“We started the third quarter flat. We started the first OT flat and the second one, too. I have to give Chicago credit, but we can’t play flat and endure slow starts all the time. We can’t play like that. It burns timeouts and kills momentum.”
FEVER FORWARD NATALIE ACHONWA
On her six blocks:
“Well I was getting blocked, so I was getting mad, so I was trying to block them as well. It wasn’t working for me in the first half on the offensive end. So I was really trying to put my time in and my effort in on defense.”
On her double-double and fighting on the offensive boards:
“I really just try to do whatever I can. Like it said, the offense wasn’t working for me so I was really just trying to get on the boards and give us extra possessions. They were fake boxing out so it gave me an opportunity to try to squeeze in there and try to grab us some extra possessions.”
FEVER FORWARD CANDICE DUPREE
On what was working for her on offense:
“A little bit of everything, just trying to be aggressive. We knew with the way they guarded side pick and rolls that we’d get a lot of open jumpers. Unfortunately it didn’t fall our way.”
On playing for this crowd:
“You know a lot of people came out to support for our last game this season. So we were able to feed off of that energy. I just want to play well for them, being that it is the last home game of the season. Hopefully next year we can get off to a better start.”
NEXT UP: The Chicago Sky will face the Indiana Fever at Wintrust Arena in Chicago on Sunday, August 19. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. CT.