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GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

All five Lynx starters scored in double digits, two finishing with double-doubles. Minnesota improved to 13-1 on the year when scoring 80+ points.
Courtney Vandersloot scored in double figures for her 11th straight game. She finished with 11 points and seven assists. With her seven assists, Vandersloot now sits three assists shy of ranking 10th all-time in assists in the WNBA.

SKY NOTES:

Allie Quigley scored 10 first quarter points, ending with a team high 22.
Chicago held Minnesota to three second-chance points in the first half.
Diamond DeShields snatched 5 steals and scored 9 points.
The Sky bench outscored the Lynx bench 18-6. Cheyenne Parker led the second unit with 10 points, four rebounds and two assists.

LYNX NOTES:

Maya Moore scored 15 of her game-high 31 points in the first half. She shot 11-of-17 from the field, with six rebounds.
Sylvia Fowles recorded her 18th double-double of the season. She padded the stats sheet with 15 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals.
Danielle Robinson recorded her first double-double of the 2018 campaign with 12 points, a season-high 11 assists, and a season-high 4 steals.
The Lynx outrebounded the Sky 37-27. They have outrebounded their opponents 19 times this season.
The Lynx shot 58.3 percent from three tonight, and shot 53.1 percent from the field. They improve to 10-5 when shooting over 45 percent.

POSTGAME QUOTES:

SKY GENERAL MANAGER AND HEAD COACH AMBER STOCKS

On the game:

“Needless to say, all of the players, all of the coaches, all of the staff [and] everybody who works so hard on a daily basis to produce high-quality work is extremely disappointed in the outcome and the play of the game. Everybody, especially starting with the players, works very hard every day to put in a lot of time to get a different result and a different show on the court than this. So, needless to say, I know the players are very disappointed.”

On the sense of urgency on the court:

“I think the players are very motivated for the playoffs and very motivated to win every game, especially, as [Courtney Vandersloot] just said, on our home court. Before I say there was a lack of urgency or anything like that, I’d want to watch the film because my instinct isn’t to say there was a lack of urgency by anybody on our team, but our flow was off. We had some good looks that didn’t go in, and there were some tough shots that some of our players have made in tough positions before, and then those tough shots weren’t falling today either. So, neither the open looks or the tough shots were going in.”

On the message to the team going forward with a playoff spot still in play:

“We have to keep our aggressiveness on 10. We forced 14 turnovers in the first half and six in the second half, and we are not just a high scoring team. We have the ability to put pressure on people and throw different defensive schemes and disrupt people’s offensive flow, and we need to continue to play to that style which has been successful for us in recent wins that we’ve had. So, the message is to do what we do and make it better and do it consistently. Get better every day and then be consistent.”

On defending Maya Moore:

“Guard her. Get in her space, crowd her, limit her touches and then with that putting pressure on the ball handlers to disrupt their ability to get her the ball in her sweet spot. Load up in the gap, crowd, and be ready to switch when necessary.”

On Allie Quigley’s performance at the All-Star Game:

“She’s a great great competitor, very competitive person, so to see her be able to once again thrive and shine in that type of environment. It was fun, it was loose, but you know she’s a competitor, and she wanted to perform well, and it was nice to be able to see her do that. For as much work, you know you always hear me constantly talking about the work that people put in, but for as much work as she puts in her game its very rewarding to see it be able to show on a nice national platform because she deserves that recognition.”

SKY GUARD COURTNEY VANDERSLOOT

On what was missing in the game tonight:

“We couldn’t score. I mean, we had 12, 15 and 11 the last three quarters. That’s not enough to win a game. That’s what it comes down to, we couldn’t score the basketball. On our home court, we couldn’t score more than 64 points to win.”

On the Lynx play:

“We have to give them credit. They made us take tough shots. I don’t think things were flowing very well; our pace wasn’t that great. I felt like we had to work really hard to get the shots that we did, and we just didn’t knock them down, enough of them.”

On Allie Quigley’s performance at the All-Star Game:

“It was fun to see Allie [Quigley]. She has to work really hard night in and night out to get shots, and she makes a lot of really hard shots, and so it was fun to see her in like a little lighter and getting those shots and she makes it look easy. It’s like she’s a machine, but she put on a show for everyone, and it was really cool to see. I’m glad I was there. I got to see it. I was just super proud of her to just be able to [win] back-to-back; that’s tough for anyone for her to do it and make 29, it’s just special. [It’s] something she’ll remember and I’ll remember.”

On being three assists away from 10th All-Time in assists:

“I think that is something for later in my career that I won’t worry about right now. Just trying to win games. Do what I can to get my teammates involved, that’s kind of my role you know. That’s what I do, but it’s obviously an honor to see my name climb that list [and it’s] something I’ll appreciate after or if I get to the top of it.”

SKY FORWARD DIAMOND DESHIELDS

On staying active on defense:

“I was just trying to stay active. We knew that they had a lot of offensive threats, both on the perimeter and down low. With me, just trying to use my length, my athleticism to kind of disrupt their offense, and just did that as much as I could.”

LYNX HEAD COACH CHERYL REEVE

On playing on short rest:

“It’s really hard to know how it’s going to work out because we don’t have any practice time. You have a shoot-around and talk about what you want to get done with the players that we do have. I thought we were really focused defensively on what we were trying to get done. This is a really potent offensive team. They probably got some looks that didn’t go down for them for sure. They’re obviously a really good team and we didn’t completely stop them.”

On Maya Moore’s play:

“Maya Moore came up big time for us. Every team needs your best players playing at their very best in order to have a special season. [Moore] got going in the second half against Atlanta and carried it over into this game, and that’s what we were hoping for. That third quarter really got us our seperation and we hung on.”

On Danielle Robinson starting the game:

“We talked to [Robinson] about her minutes played and I know she was huffing and puffing. We told her we were going to leave her out there and she was going to run the team. I thought we were more closely connected in our play calling, and I thought her communication with her teammates went with what we were trying to do. It was her best game in a Lynx uniform. I think that has something to do with being out there for 30+ minutes, you get a rhythm.”

On Rebekkah Brunson’s status:

“She has a hairline fracture in her nose. That hit was a pretty hard one, so I think she wasn’t feeling that great. With the swelling on the outside and the inside, she just needs some time. She’s probably more day-to-day.”

On the key to finishing the regular season strong:

“Winning. For us, defending at a high level and combining that with scoring. 19 fast break points today, and I think it has something to do with having [Robinson] out there. She was able to push the pace for us a little bit. It’s going to take Maya Moore being prolific Maya Moore, it’s going to take [Fowles] being the MVP candidate that she is and [Robinson] managing games.”

LYNX GUARD DANIELLE ROBINSON

On the game:

“We definitely played a lot more in transition and that helped us get more easy buckets. In the second half, obviously taking care of the ball and making sure the right people were in the right spots [was key]. We had a few players that caught fire there, and when they’re hot you just got to get them the ball in the right spots and that’s what I tried to do tonight.”

On getting the start in the game:

“It’s always next man up for us. I was just making sure I was ready and locked into the game plan in leading our team wherever possible. Whatever the team needs; if they needed me to play 40 minutes, that’s what I’m going to do. Whatever the team needed I was going to get it out tonight for sure.”

On playing with energy:

“I think one of my biggest attributes is the energy that I play with. No matter how many years in the league, I feel like the energy I have is constant. That’s one thing about me that has never gone away and it never will. Especially after my achilles surgery I feel a lot more healthy and can move better. With this team for sure that is my role coming off the bench, to provide energy and a different pace.”

LYNX GUARD MAYA MOORE

On effort after three-game stretch:

“We knew we had to come in and be as aggressive as ever to try to put the ball in the hole and making sure we know how we’re going to do that. A lot of our energy and flow comes off of our defense, so we wanted to make sure we took care of the defensive assignments and [try] to clean up our turnovers in the first half.”

On the closing stretch of the regular season:

“Just to continue to win basketball games and win possessions. We’ve been playing together long enough to know you have to keep the foot on the gas and try to stay focused. Every game it feels like a playoff game. We’re expecting nothing less on Thursday.”

On being more aggressive this game with two starters out:

“I think everybody knew collectively that they had to be ready to go and do what we do. When you have two starters out you know you have a decision to make, and we were trying to make the right decisions. We got ourselves in trouble a little bit in the first half with those turnovers, but we adjusted and were able to help each other and have that balance flowing with five of us in double figures.”

NEXT UP: The Chicago Sky will face the Connecticut Sun at Wintrust Arena this Friday, August 10. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CT.

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