GAME HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE
● Diamond DeShields tied her career-high point total, tallying 30 while shooting 61.5% from the field. She is the first player to have 30+ points, 5+ rebounds, and 5+ assists off the bench in a WNBA game.
● Sky guard Allie Quigley showed off her diverse skill set in tonight’s win as she led the team with eight rebounds ( just one off her season high) and was second on the team in points with 15. The DePaul product shot 57.1% from the field and made four out of seven of her three-point attempts.
● Four Sky players scored 10+ points in tonight’s win (Quigley, DeShields, Ndour-Fall, Copper)
● Dana Evans logged a career-high 19 minutes and shot 60% from behind the arc.
Postgame Media Availability – Sky vs. Fever | September 19, 2021
NEXT UP: The Chicago Sky will face the Dallas Wings in a first-round elimination game as part of the 2021 WNBA Playoffs on Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021. More information will be released by the league and by the Chicago Sky Public Relations Department in the near future. Sky fans can cheer on the team and view all 19 WNBA playoff games on either ESPN or ESPN2.
KEY RUNS
● To open Sunday evening’s game at Wintrust, the Sky went on a quick 5-2 run in the first quarter.
● Midway through the first quarter, the Fever offense went on a 5-0 run to push Indiana to an early 24-19 lead.
● With just over three minutes to play in the second quarter, Indiana finished its 9-0 run and took a 42-35 lead. Fortunately for the Sky, a free throw from guard Diamond DeShields stopped the scoring.
● In the final minutes of the first half, the Sky went on a quick 6-0 run versus the Fever, closing the once-held gap.
● Chicago went on a 6-0 run to regain the lead midway through the third quarter.
● A 7-2 run from the Sky late in the third quarter propelled the home team to a 10-point lead, its largest of the game up until that point.
● The Sky went on a 7-0 run in the beginning of the fourth quarter to extend its lead to 17.
KEY STATS
● After the first quarter, while the Sky trailed the Fever 24-22, Chicago shot 50% from the three-point line in comparison to Indiana’s conversion rate of 20%. In the first quarter for the Sky, Allie Quigley went 3 of 4 (75%) from deep.
● It was a back-and-forth first half for both teams, as the score remained knotted up at 46 a piece after the first two quarters. In the first half alone, there were 13 lead changes.
● The Sky’s difference-making minutes came in the third quarter when it outshot the Fever 28-19.
CHICAGO NOTES
● Chicago’s bench was a key scoring factor for the team, as five non-starters combined to score 54 points for the team. Sky guard Diamond DeShields led all bench players with 30 points against the Fever.
● With five assists tonight, Courtney Vandersloot locked in an 8.6 assists/game average throughout the regular season. It’s her fifth consecutive season with 8+ assists per game. She is the only player in WNBA history with multiple such seasons.
● Every available player logged at least 10 minutes against the Fever. Specifically, Kahleah Copper played the most minutes tonight and saw just about 27 minutes on the floor.
● Kahleah Copper stole the ball twice tonight. She now has 99 steals as a WNBA player.
INDIANA NOTES
● The Fever were eliminated from playoff contention on Sept. 12, 2021. Last season, Indiana finished with a 6-16 record, good for fourth in the Eastern Conference and 11th overall. This season, the Fever have already secured a lottery pick for the upcoming WNBA draft.
● Tonight, the Fever became just the third team in WNBA history to play just six players total in a game.
● Despite coming in with so few players, the Fever kept the game a tightly-contested one, outsourcing the Sky in the second quarter and leading by as many as seven.
● Indiana guard Kelsey Mitchell finished the game with a season-high 30 points as she shot 70.6% from the field.
● Lindsey Allen dished out a career-high 10 assists and finished tonight’s game with a double.