KEY RUNS
• The Wings went on a 8-0 run to take a 14-11 lead near the end of the first quarter
• Dallas’ 9-4 second-quarter run gave it a 27-20 advantage
• The Sky went on an 11-2 run to take a 49-47 lead midway through the third quarter
• Chicago went on a 7-0 run to take a 75-73 advantage with 4:47 remaining in the fourth quarter
• The Wings ended the game on a 13-8 run to win, 88-83
KEY STATS
• Dallas held the advantage in offensive rebounds, 13-9
• Chicago made a season-low three 3s, going 3-19 from beyond the arc
• The Wings outscored the Sky in second-chance points, 17-10
• Dallas outscored Chicago by nine points from long distance
• The Sky’s bench scored 14 points, while the Wings’ totaled just five points
CHICAGO NOTES
• Chicago scored just 14 points in the first quarter, their lowest total in the first period since July 17 against Atlanta
• The Sky failed to make a 3-point field goal in the first half for just the third time this season
• Courtney Vandersloot set a season high for points in the first half with 12
• Stefanie Dolson recorded her first double-double of the season, tallying 15 points and grabbing a seasonhigh 11 rebounds
DALLAS NOTES
• Arike Ogunbowale recorded her seventh consecutive 20+-point game, tying her career high in scoring with 35 points. She also dished out six assists and grabbed five rebounds.
• Ogunbowale’s 16 first-half points matched her career high
• Isabelle Harrison recorded her third double-double of the season. She matched her season high in scoring with 18 points and also pulled down 12 rebounds
• Dallas took care of the ball well, limiting itself to a season-low six turnovers
POSTGAME QUOTES
SKY GENERAL MANAGER & HEAD COACH JAMES WADE
On what wasn’t working well tonight:
“They’re a good team. And we weren’t good enough, so the better team won. That’s what happened. Our effort wasn’t there. I made the mistake of thinking coming into this game we could win. I just didn’t realize they were going to play six or seven players and were going to beat us. I don’t really have an answer.
On falling to Dallas:
“I just know they’re a team that scores 70 points a game. And they had 88. They had 88 points A team that scores 70 had 88 points. We never made them uncomfortable. I mean, they beat us. So something happened between the last time we played them and this time. We beat them there and we beat them here. But they scored 88 points with seven people. Yeah.”
SKY GUARD COURTNEY VANDERSLOOT
On having their jerseys auctioned off after the game for breast cancer awareness:
“It’s a nice thing for us. It’s really cool for us to play in these jerseys and play in front of survivors and people that are battling breast cancer. It’s nice to be able to spread awareness and use our platform. It’s one of the special games of the season”
On why the effort wasn’t there this evening:
“I wish we had answers for you. We didn’t execute the gameplan well, obviously. We didn’t bring it tonight. And this is a huge lesson for us. It doesn’t matter who the other team is; you have to bring it every single night. And we didn’t. And it starts from me, and I have to do better. Especially down the stretch. This one hurts.”
On guarding Arike Ogunbowale:
“She was good tonight. She was comfortable. She’s been on a roll. She makes tough shots. She plays free. She’s got the ultimate green light. And today she made a lot.”
SKY CENTER STEFANIE DOLSON
On how to bounce back:
“We just have to bounce back. Like ‘Sloot’ [Courtney Vandersloot] said, this one hurts a lot, but we still have games to play and then we still do have playoffs. We have a lot of hard games left, but they’re games that we can and we know we can win, and we have to believe that, so we have to take this one and learn what we can, and we can’t let it happen again. We can’t have a lack of effort, of execution, and I hope everyone on the team goes back and watches this film and learns from it and gets ready for our next one.”
On whether the Sky came out flat:
“Obviously, the game shows what it was: we lost. I do think that we all could have put more effort in, but I think we need everyone. We need all 12 of us to play as hard as we possibly can every possession, because every team is good in this league, whether they’re in the playoffs or not in the playoffs, bottom, top, doesn’t matter.
And these teams are the hardest, because they just play. Like ‘Sloot’ [Courtney Vandersloot] said, they play freely, and we gotta come ready every game.”
On working and communicating with Cheyenne Parker and Astou Ndour in and out of the post:
“We just try to play to our strengths. I think ‘Sloot’ does the best job to move the ball. And I think CP knows what she’s good at — getting in the post. Astou can get deflections and make shots. And then I just try to do a little bit of everything. And I think we all just play together.”
WINGS HEAD COACH BRIAN AGLER
On general takeaways from the win:
“I thought we played well. We did a lot of good things for us. We’re starting to run a good offense. I thought we did some pretty good things in spurts with different people. I thought we did a really good job on Allie [Quigley] in the first half. They made a really conscious effort to get her some looks and get her some shots and she did. Courtney Vandersloot is as good a player as there is in the league. And to try to keep her contained is very important to beating Chicago. And not that I thought we did a great job on it, but we did a good job on it. And that’s huge. And you know we got [some] rebounds. We got some second looks: offensive boards. We got ourselves to the free-throw line and hit some timely shots. Izzy [Isabelle Harrison] with a double-double and Arike with the huge game.””
On the defensive strategy against Chicago:
“We wanted to contain them. And I thought that they got the ball to the lane and made some shots. I thought our rotations were slow at times. The main one is not letting Allie Quigley get going. She’s shooting over 40% from three. [She’s] as good a shooter as there’s ever been in the league. So I think Chicago, if they can get back on track here in a bit — they’re not far off — they can make some noise in the playoffs. They’ve got a good, balanced team. They can score the basketball. They’ve got a couple of really good defenders. I like their team.”
On Arike Ogunbowale’s improvements as a facilitator:
“We’re trying to make all of our players better. This isn’t one of those things where we sort of get the ball to her and put [the game] in her hands and go score. We want to run offense and she has the knack of being able to create her own shot. But tonight, she found her teammates too. What I was really impressed with was the fact [that she] had no turnovers. She shot close to 50% and had six assists with no turnovers. And that’s impressive
for a player playing the point guard position at this level that has never played it before. So I think she’s
progressing and going in the right direction.”
On the boot to the team getting a big win against a playoff team down the stretch:
“I think we’re a team that’s improved. It’s not been a steady incline. We’ve had a little roller coaster here and there. But I think we’ve steadily improved. I’m proud of how our team is focused and got ready for games and those kinds of things. I’m proud of the maturity that we’re showing that way. We’re a really young team. We’ve\ got — what eight players here tonight? Four are rookies. And we’ve pretty much got a couple other younger ones too. And I’m just proud of that. It takes a mature team to beat a good team on the road.”
WINGS GUARD ARIKE OGUNBOWALE
On career-high scoring night:
“I was a little sick actually before the game. But I got some fluid in me, so I felt good.”
On her efficiency as facilitator as well as a scorer:
“I mean I come into every game with the same mindset. [Finding teammates] and they’re knocking them down. So that’s kudos to them.”
On the momentum boost of beating a playoff team like the Sky:
“I mean there has been a lot of games where we have let loose. So that was definitely just us buckling down even when it got tight — road game, got the crowd against you — just stuck together and that was good teamwork out there.”
WINGS CENTER ISABELLE HARRISON
On efficiency during a season-high scoring night:
“I just wanted to make sure it was a good road win. Just wanted to make sure we had some good momentum going into the next game. So, I knew that closing out the season that we had to come out strong [against]
Chicago.”
On battling the depth of Chicago’s frontcourt:
“We kind of knew what they already do. Astou is kind of a new player. We saw what she did in previous games, so I think we did a good job making sure put [the ball] on the ground and made sure she didn’t have a lot of shots that weren’t contested.”