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SKY HIGHLIGHTS

Diamond DeShields recorded her first double-double of the season netting 23 points and 11 rebounds while also being the leading scorer for the game.
Allie Quigley kept her hot streak going, scoring 20 or more in her third straight game.
Chicago’s bench scored 10 of the Sky’s 14 first-quarter points, led by Cheyenne Parker and Jamierra Faulkner with four each.
Cheyenne Parker shot 100 percent from the field in the first half.
The Sky held Angel McCoughtry scoreless in the first half. Coming into this game, McCoughtry led her team with 25 points their last outing, but the Sky held her to just six points in this game.
Courtney Vandersloot led the team in assists with 11. She is now six assists away from the No. 14 spot for all-time assists.
Stefanie Dolson has come back from injury on a mission, scoring double-digits in three straight games.
Chicago cut the Atlanta’s 13-point lead to eight at halftime. There were seven lead changes in the game. The Dream led by as much as 13, and the Sky’s highest lead was 17. The Sky shot 49.3% to the Dream’s 44.8%.
The Sky went on a 6-0 run to start the second half to cut the Dream’s lead to just 2 points.
Chicago came out hot in the second half, scoring 63 points and outscoring the Dream by 21 points.

DREAM HIGHLIGHTS
Layshia Clarendon shot 3-of-4 in the first quarter, scoring seven points.
The Dream outscored the Sky bench 27-25.
Jessica Breland was held to just 2 points but she lead her team with 7 rebounds.
Damiris Dantas came off the bench shooting 3 of 4 from the line and getting two other buckets getting her total to 7 points.
Renee Montgomery shot 5-7 from beyond the arc. She was the Dream leading scorer, and she also led the team in assists with five.
Elizabeth Williams, Layshia Clarendon, and Blake Dietrick all scored in double-digits for the Dream.
Blake Dietrick came off the bench hot, scoring 12 points and hitting 3 out of 3 three pointers also adding 2 assist and 4 rebounds.
Elizabeth Williams shot 66% from the field getting 13 points along with 6 rebounds.

POSTGAME QUOTES

SKY GENERAL MANAGER AND HEAD COACH AMBER STOCKS
(On the team’s energy coming out of halftime)
“We focused on our offense. Our defense was good in the first half. Atlanta scored 38 points in the first half. We held Atlanta under 40 points by halftime. So, our defense was solid. We had a couple of breakdowns in the point of attack of ball-screen action, but other than that our defense was solid. So our halftime focus and coming out of the third quarter was heavy emphasis on offense and on moving the basketball. The way that teams load up on Allie we have to find creative ways to get her shots and she puts in the work to make the tough shots they don’t come easy. She puts in a lot of work that is beyond what most players do to be able to make those tough shots.“

(On moving the ball this season)
“It’s working well, Vandersloot and Faulkner are great at pushing the tempo and what makes [Vandersloot] so hard to guard is that not only can she shoot it off the catch, not only can she shoot it off the the dribble, but she can hang in the air that extra seven-tenths of a second to make that extra pass. That is a really hard skill to acquire and she does it so well. The other missing piece that’s elevated that feeds into [Vandersloot] being able to have 11 assists is Stefanie Dolson’s contributions moving the ball. It may not hit the stat sheet as an assist but the way that Stefanie can play, and swing, and screen, and roll, and move and catch it high – really does a lot to open the court and move the basketball around side-to-side.”

(On Diamond DeShields’ defense)
“Whenever I would express my interest in Diamond, the question people would always raise to me was ‘yeah but what are you gonna do about her defense’ and I would just smile. Her defense has been and will continue to be just fine. It’s unfortunate that even Allie does not get enough credit for her defense. The number of times [Quigley] goes out and shuts down the other team’s leading scorer [often goes unrecognized]. People often have a myth that players who score a lot of points don’t play defense, but [Quigley] and Diamond are unquestionably two of our best defenders. They own that, they embrace it. When I was watching Diamond play overseas as well as watching all the film from when she was in college, her footwork, closeouts, the intensity in which she fights through screens, there was no doubt that she was a good defender and embraced that and took pride in it.”

(On the importance of the upcoming games in New York)
“When you look at the playoffs and the playoff structure, it’s really about the tiebreakers. They become very important. We’ve already beat New York once and so to play them two more times, we have to make sure we secure tiebreakers – against every team. Getting one more [win] if not two, a sweep against New York is vital. Not just to continue the momentum we have now, but when it comes to the playoff structure it’s important to have those tiebreakers. Every inch, every way you can climb the ladder with seeding is extremely important.”

SKY FORWARD DIAMOND DESHIELDS
(On her third-quarter burst)
“I’m gonna blame my glasses because I just started wearing them. So, we’re just gonna call it that. We’re bonding still. I think the third quarter was just all about forgetting about it. My teammates at halftime [said] ‘forget about it, we need you to score the basketball.’ That gets reiterated to me not just today, but all season long. My teammates have really been the reason why I have been able to go into each game confidently. Going into the second half I felt good because of them.”

(On her defense on Angel McCoughtry)
“Historically I haven’t been well-known for my defense. I have athleticism and I have that ability to defend, but I think knowing that in this league if you don’t defend you get exposed it’s kind of like lit a fire under me having to guard players like Angel McCoughtry and Diana Taurasi and all of those other great guards that I’ve had to defend it’s kind of just like a want to. Like I don’t want to get embarrassed, I don’t want to be a rookie who has to learn those hard lessons from the [veterans]. You know, I just go out there and try my best.”

(On team turning the corner)
“We’ve won two in a row after a tough loss. I think it’s a turning point for us as a unit as well. We’ve got some momentum moving into New York and we are confident in ourselves right now. We are playing really well, so yeah you could call it a turning point.”

SKY GUARD ALLIE QUIGLEY
(On the team coming together)
“I just think we are kind of figuring out what makes us 12 the best 12 we can be. We are just holding on to that. We are just trying to minimize our mistakes and just roll with what’s working and that’s moving the ball, it’s playing defense like what Diamond said. We rely on her to take out that main player, but also having like a good team defense help behind us. So, we are just trying to focus on some goals that we have.”

DREAM HEAD COACH NICKI COLLEN
(On what the Sky did to take control of the game)
“I think really, as much as anything, they just really attacked the rim [in] the second half early. I thought Diamond got hot, and they kind of fed, quite frankly, off Diamond’s energy. She took a lot of shots. In the first half and didn’t make them, but kind of got on a roll there in the second. And then, really, Slooty [Courtney Vandersloot] started being Slooty, and really kind of picking us apart, and they did a good job of slipping out of their actions, and getting some easy ones at the rim. So they just kind of picked our defense out and got us really spread out.”

(On the Sky’s defense)
“I thought Diamond got into Angel early, and was really aggressive, and bothered her a little in the first half. But, these are games that, when you look at us statistically, this game compared to last, we shot the ball better than we normally do. So, I dont think defense…I mean, Chicago won this game because their offense just really started roaring in the second half. And that’s kind of what they’ve done on this little streak that they’ve had. Between, this being their second win in a row, but even in the two Washington games, you didn’t see it for 40 minutes, but you saw glimpses of really good offensive basketball from them where they share it, move it, and really spread you out.”

(On the second half of the season)
“We are always going to hang our hat on defense. I think with our length and athleticism. I think it’s what has gotten us to seven wins. So, I think we are always going to hang our hat on that. We certainly would’ve felt like if we would have gotten to 80 points today that we would have won the game because we have been winning games where we’ve been getting into the 70s because our defense has been so solid. So, against this team today they did a good job spreading us out and so we’ll go back to the drawing board. And some days a team will just beat you and they definitely did that today.”

(On missing Tiffany Hayes)
“She’s our best defender. I mean look statically at this game compared to last game in terms of how Quigley was able to do. As good as Quigley is, when you put in Tiffany Hayes she is so slippery, she’s so hard to screen and then she’s our leading scorer. Yeah, when you lose that even Brittney Sykes she’s been out but she’s been back two games, but she’s still sore and she’s not moving as well as she’s capable of. I mean we have to get healthy for sure to really make a push.”

DREAM GUARD RENEE MONTGOMERY
(On her scoring)
“Just be more aggressive. Take the shots that were open. My teammates got me open a lot, so it really helped to take the shots that [were] open.”

(On talking to her teammates during the game)
“Oh, I’m always talking, so that’s just a normal day at the office. Practice, games, it doesn’t matter…on the bus. Just whatever’s going on in that particular situation, I’m probably talking about it.”

(On the Sky’s defense)
“They played really hard on defense. That’s the thing. They made passes hard, they tried to pressure the ball, so they just played hard.”

DREAM FORWARD ANGEL MCCOUGHTRY
(On what the Sky did defensively to bother her game)
“Nothing. I just wasn’t in rhythm today. They didn’t do [anything] that no other team does. They throw three and two players at me; it’s nothing new. I didn’t have a rhythm.”

(On the importance of defense)
“Defense. We’ve got to rebound and we’ve got to get back. There’s no excuse for us to not play with more energy than the other teams.”

(On stopping Sky assists and rebounds)
“All of it. All of it is important. Every single thing. And we have to stop taking these games for granted or we’re not going to make the playoffs. We have to start appreciating this game, and treating this game like it’s a job that we go to from 9-to-5, and that needs to be the difference in our mindsets.”

(On what’s lacking with Tiffany Hayes being out)
“A lot of things. Her speed, her agility, defense, energy. We’ll be glad to get her back, but until then, we have to hold it down for her. You know, we have to step up.”

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