KEY RUNS
• The Sky opened the first three minutes of the game on a 9-3 run. Chicago continued to push its lead late in the first, going up 19-11 at the 3:20 mark in the quarter.
• After leading by one at the end of the first, Chicago began the second frame on a 13-5 run, extending its lead to nine during the first three minutes. Chicago led for the entire first half.
• Connecticut tied the game at 66 with just under three minutes to play in the third quarter, followed by a 15-5 run from the Sky to close out the frame.
KEY STATS
• Chicago outscored Connecticut 26-18 in the paint during the first half and shot 65% (19-29) from the floor.
• The Sky shot 29-32 (90.6%) from the free throw line, including a perfect 12-12 mark from Cheyenne Parker.
• Connecticut’s bench outscored Chicago’s 31-25. a
CHICAGO NOTES
• This was the 6th consecutive game where the Sky’s starting five featured Courtney Vandersloot, Kahleah Copper, Allie Quigley, Azurá Stevens and Cheyenne Parker.
• Chicago has recorded at least 20 assists as a team in 5 of its first 7 games this season.
• The Sky is now 5-1 when Courtney Vandersloot records at least eight assists this season.
• Chicago began the game making seven of its first nine shots (77.8%), shooting a 3-3 from distance. Quigley scored 12 of the Sky’s first 19 points, shooting a perfect 7-7 from the floor with two three-point field goals.
• Quigleyand Diamond DeShields shot combined 14-20 (70%), with Quigley going 3-4 from distance
• DeShields scored season-high 14 points as she plays her way back to recovery.
• Sky’s 52-point total through 2 quarters was its highest of the season (1st half) and 1st time the team hit 50-points in the 1st half.
• Copper recorded career-high steals (4). Her previous mark had been set at 2 vs. Los Angeles Sparks on July 28. In addition, her 17 pts tonight made it 6 of 7 games for the 5th-year player where she has reached a double-figure scoring total.
CONNECTICUT NOTES
• Jasmine Thomas (12), Kalia Charles (11) and DeWanna Bonner (8) scored 31 of the Sun’s first 37 points.
• The aforementioned trio all reached a double-digit scoring total by the end of the first half, with Charles shooting 80% (4-5) from the floor.
• Connecticut began the second half making six of its first shots, including two three-point field goals.
• The Sun had six players post a double-digit scoring total, three of which scored 15 or more.
POSTGAME QUOTES
SKY GENERAL MANAGER & HEAD COACH JAMES WADE
On how the Sky prepared for this game offensively:
“We just stuck to our game plan and we stayed focused. You didn’t see any distractions. That was like a point of concentration for the team, for myself. We didn’t let distractions bother us and we just stayed focused on the game. We knew that two or three minutes unsettled could mean a run for them so it’s a process for us but we’ll get it right.”
On Cheyenne Parker’s free throw development:
“The last 2 years you’ve probably seen a big jump from her shooting free throws because her and Gabby [Williams], they have to end practice at the free throw line for us to finish practice. And so she jumped last year and I think it helped her because it calls for a level of concentration if you don’t want your teammates to run. It’s just added responsibility and now she’s more comfortable shooting them. And she’s been really a pretty good free throw shooter the last two seasons.”
SKY FORWARD CHEYENNE PARKER
On if tonight’s game was more of a motivator because of Thursday’s outcome:
“Yeah, we definitely did. Just our defense was not good at all and James [Wade] let us have it in film and I don’t think anyone was happy leaving film. We were all really irritated, not just with ourselves, but just with how humiliating it is to see us on film and see like, ‘Alright, we can give a little bit more effort.’ I think we all had that extra motivation tonight.”
On how her meditation has helped her this season:
“It’s helped me tremendously. I’m really thankful. It was actually Diamond who suggested it to me earlier in like January, February and I didn’t try it. She said try it and I didn’t try it until I got to the bubble. And then once I’ve finally tried it I was like, ‘Oh wow, like I love this!’ And I’ve been doing it ever since and it’s helped me so much, I’m really thankful. A lot of people have told me to try it but Diamond was the one who tipped it off. I was like, OK, I’m gonna try it. I finally tried it. It’s helped me a lot.”
On the shirt she was wearing during postgame:
“It says arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor. Stef passed these out to the team after we watched film and said we’re going to wear these shirts today. It has a picture of her [Taylor] in the back, [you] probably can’t really see it. But she’s a young lady that we’re representing this year and she’s on the back of everyone’s jersey and it’s a really unfortunate story. But I think the more people see it, the more we can try to get some justice for her.”
SKY GUARD ALLIE QUIGLEY
On if her recent play is more “Allie Quigley-style” basketball:
“Yeah that’d be nice to start that well and just have good cuts off the ball and make my shots but just trying to do whatever the game comes to me. Whatever the defense gives, but hopefully there’ll be more of that.”
On the biggest differences from last year:
“I think last year we just started feeling who we were maybe halfway through the year. But I feel like coming into this year having so many returners and with Cheyenne [Parker] and Kahleah [Copper], Diamond [DeShields], me, Gabby [Williams] [and] Courtney [Vandersloot], just having that many returners, we already knew who we were from the jump. Even when we were working out in Chicago before this. So I think that familiarity helped a lot. And obviously having another year with James [Wade], we knew what plays we were going to be running and our defensive strategy. So it helped a lot just having so many people come back that we’ve already had in previous years.”
On ongoing social justice conversations:
“I think it’s huge to come at it from so many different angles. Obviously awareness for people who have no idea about certain people who have been unjustly killed. So the awareness is huge and I think it’s even bigger to put your words in action and that’s what we’re trying to do from the bubble with getting as many people to donate to Chicago organizations so we know that it directly affects people of color in Chicago and we’re hoping to continue this next summer. To actually be more hands-on and actually in the community. So I think it’s important to raise awareness, give money and then faceto- face interaction is also huge.”
SKY FORWARD KAHLEAH COPPER
On how she worked on her game in the offseason to get to this point:
“I think in the offseason I just have time to really worked on my game and really work on my consistency, and I think that was a big part of it for me, just coming in and being consistent. And I think just overseas, I got my confidence going, just worked on my game and just doing things that I know that I’m capable of doing.”
On Azurá Stevens:
“I think Z… She tough! Byt I think that she was just perfect today. I mean, we were putting them in tough situations where they had to choose and she was outside, outside the three and she was knocking shots down and they never rotated so we’re gonna run the same thing until they stop and that’s what we did.”
On mentality going into the game:
“I think we had this conversation way before the season started, way back when we were in quarantine and we didn’t even know if we were going to have a season, we talked about what was important for us coming into the season. What was important for us is just to kind of put teams away early. We know we were good enough. And I think that was important for us today we knew how the game went with Vegas and how we trailed and had to come back and didn’t put them away but we wanted to set the tone early and I think we did a great job of really applying what we talked about in kind of the offseason. But I think that having that mentality that we had, we come in and we just do we’re supposed to do, early on and then makes the game, it makes the game much easier for us.”