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GAME HIGHLIGHTS

Chicago Sky guard Courtney Vandersloot became the seventh player in WNBA history to record a triple-double, finishing the game with 13 points, 15 assists, and 10 rebounds.
Vandersloot’s career-high 15 assists were also the most recorded in a triple-double in WNBA history.
Prior to Vandersloot, the last WNBA triple-double came from Los Angeles Sparks’ Candace Parker on July 28, 2017 in San Antonio.
Vandersloot’s triple-double was the first-ever for the Chicago Sky franchise.
The Sky veteran also set a new Chicago Sky record for assists in a half, with 10 in the first half of tonight’s game vs. Dallas. Vandersloot broke her own record of nine assists recorded in a single half during the 2017 season.
Chicago scored a franchise record-high of 114 points, surpassing the previous high of 107.

SKY NOTES

Allie Quigley finished the game with 21 points she shot 44 percent form the 3-point line.
The Sky’s 31 points marks the first time the team has scored at least 30 points in the first quarter this season.
Gabby Williams tied a career-high with four steals after tallying three in the first quarter.
Kahleah Copper came off of a season-high 14 points in her last game and finished this game with 23 points on 9-for-10 shooting.
The Sky came into the game averaging seven 3-pointers made per game. They hit eight alone in the first half and finished 12-of-25, 48 percent from beyond the arc.
Diamond DeShields finished with 17 points and a career-high eight assists.

WINGS NOTES

Liz Cambage recorded her 24th consecutive double figure game ending the night with 23 points.
Skylar Diggins-Smith ended the night recording her 20th double figure game of the season with 21. It also marks as her 12th 20-plus point game of the season.
Tonight’s 99-point game marks the 12th time the Wings have scored 90 or more points in a game this season, including eight out of the last nine.
Dallas came into the game shooting 79.4 percent from the free-throw line and went 32-for-37 from the line in this game for 86.5 percent
The Wings had 12 steals in the game compared to five by the Sky. They are currently tied for best in the league at eight steals per game.

POSTGAME QUOTES

SKY GENERAL MANAGER & HEAD COACH AMBER STOCKS

On stopping Liz Cambage:

“Well our game plan was to fight fire with fire. And we have the depth and the defenders to handle such an ominous offensive presence that she is. Stefanie Dolson did a great job on her defensive assignment. Alaina Coates, Gabby, Astou, and Cheyenne Parker all of them worked hard together and then it was the guards came in from the backside as well. The guards did their job of taking care of the perimeter, so the guards said they’d have the perimeter on lock, the post were able to concentrate inside.”

On Diamond DeShields’ aggressiveness:

“The role that I have coaching this team when it comes to what needs to be said to the players is very small because they’re always talking to each other. And so the encouraging each other the talking to each other, whether its Copper insisting someone gets through a screen or [Vandersloot] giving someone a high-five for setting a good screen, they are there for each other and they do that with each other nonstop. Diamond is young and fortunate to have teammates surrounding her that appreciate what she brings to the table, they appreciate her puzzle piece. Our team is special in that everybody has something to bring to the table and we all appreciate everybody’s highlights.”

On DeShields’ well-rounded game:

“I think she’s been a multi-dimensional player, and now she’s at a platform – with teammates, surrounded by them, and it’s a unique situation. Everyone on our team can really appreciate [Parker] for who she is, and [Williams] for who she is. We don’t really know what [Williams] is, but whatever [Williams] is she fits perfectly with this team and we all appreciate that. We appreciate Copper for who she is, and same with {DeShields]. It’s these unique qualities that our players have that are hard to put in a box sometime, it fits.”

SKY GUARD COURTNEY VANDERSLOOT

On if she thought being the best game of her career:

“Possibly. Thanks to my teammates. I don’t know. It felt good. It feels good to finally get a triple-double. What a fun game you know to be a part of in all aspects. Kah (Kahleah Copper) was awesome and everybody stepped up you know. We needed a win tonight and that’s most important.”

On Dallas’ defense:

“Right from the start I wanted it to be a really fast-paced game and that obviously starts with me just pushing the ball, pushing the tempo. You know we can run. We have a lot of runners on our team and when we play fast like this we’re pretty good in transition. Sorry, I am so tired. Oh my gosh. I’m like talking like so slow. That’s what it was I was just looking to push in transition in the open court you things start to really open up for us.”

On thinking about breaking records on the court:

“Well it’s hard not to when you have your teammates are telling you every possession like, ‘one more rebound,’ ‘Hey, Sloot one more rebound,’ so, in a sense, yeah. You know, when you start forcing things that’s when it can get ugly. So, I just wanted to really stay true to the game and just do what it took to win the game. Like I said like of course these things are fun don’t get me wrong, I’m humbled to be even you know the first this, the first that, but I really do just want to win the game.”

SKY GUARD KAHLEAH COPPER

On the game:

“It felt good out there. It felt like we were really working together and that we had a different sense of urgency. We were communicating and really passionate about the things that we needed to do – like get stops. It felt good. I won’t say it was the best game all season, but I’ll say this was a great game as a team and for us moving forward.”

On her performance over the last couple games:

“I trust myself and trust the things I work on every day. When I come in the game I’m just really trying to contribute to the team, whether it’s making a backdoor cut or moving without the ball. It’s doing the little things, playing defense, rebounding, just trying to play hard so that we can ultimately get a win.”

WINGS HEAD COACH FRED WILLIAMS

On the game:

“Well, considering we played last night, we left our defense on the plane. The defense was definitely on the plane tonight.”

On the adjustments going into the second half:

“Just get back in transition. I thought they pushed the ball up in transition on us, got to the rim on the secondary transition break, and we just didn’t pull it back defensively to get those early stops.”

On the fatigue of playing two nights in a row:

“No excuses. You still play the game. No excuses. You still got to play. We still got possessions, we still got rebounds, we still got to come out and play the game, play the best, play back-to-back games and make it happen.”

On Wings offense:

“Offense is always on. I mean, it’s not negative to score 99 points. Us being one of the top category teams in every category, tonight just wasn’t our night. A lot of shots didn’t go down, and they made theirs, we didn’t.”

On Liz Cambage:

“She’s always going to have balance with touches and scoring. You can always expect at least a double-double and at least good 20, 25 from her. She’s feeling good and getting a lot of touches, and she’s capable of getting 40 to 50 points.”

WINGS CENTER LIZ CAMBAGE

On Chicago’s defense:

“They triple-teamed me so I didn’t really get to do much in the first tonight.”

On getting out of the triple teams:

“I just passed out of it. And try to run more elbow play get more movement.”

On shooting outside:

“I just take what’s open. I feel like you know I probably took a couple of shots like four shots”

On playing against Courtney Vandersloot:

“We didn’t come ready to play. And we didn’t play our game tonight. We were like two steps behind everything, defensively, offensively we were a mess. We’re better than this and we will be better than this.”

On solidifying themselves as a contender:

“We need to focus on this Connecticut game first and then you know rest up and have a little break and then straight back into it. This is the business end of things. I think we are having a bit of a dip right now. We need to watch video, we need to you know get it better, get it right and we’ll come in hot.”

WINGS GUARD SKYLAR DIGGINS-SMITH

On fatigue and the game:

“I ain’t talking about that. Just because it sounds like an excuse. You’ve got to credit them for coming out with a lot of energy, and they made shots, they ran. It was a poor effort on our part. It’s the way the league is. A lot of teams got back to backs, so just give them credit for playing hard and being able to execute. We’ve just got to be better. We know, we feel like we’re the better team, and we didn’t play like it tonight. Just give them credit for performing, the way they shot the ball, the way that they ran the floor. We didn’t play defense and we didn’t shoot it very well, so they were the better team tonight.”

On Wings scoring 99 points tonight:

“Not very good, I didn’t think. We gave up 114, so we had to at least get that to try to be in the game, so we shot the ball, I think, at 40 percent in the first half and they had 61 percent or something like that. So, like I said, I’m disappointed in our effort defensively tonight. We’re a much better defensive team than we showed. I’m just going to go back to there ain’t no excuses. You just credit them for making shots, and we’ve got to be better. Forget the schedule, forget the delayed fight, it is what it is, you know. We show up, and we can put out a better product than that, even on a back-to-back, and we know that. So, that’s just something we’re all thinking about, and we’ve just got to have short term memory and get ready for Connecticut on Sunday.”

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