By Caroline Lau

The Sky fell 56-90 to the Golden State Valkyries at Wintrust Arena on Friday, Aug. 15 in the final matchup of the year between the two teams.

Chicago started Friday’s game on a quick 10-3 run fueled by back-to-back threes from Sevgi Uzun. Janelle Salaün answered for Golden State, draining three triples as the team totaled seven threes in the period.

Elizabeth Williams powered the Sky early, scoring eight points in the first quarter, with multiple difficult finishes at the rim. The Sky trailed 23-27 after the first quarter in a hot offensive start for both teams.

Chicago found an offensive rhythm with tough buckets from Ariel Atkins and Kamilla Cardoso. Despite going down as many as twelve, the Sky cut the deficit to two before halftime. Cardoso led the way with 12 points on 5 of 6 shooting.

Despite the offensive execution in the first half, the Sky faltered coming out of the break. Chicago failed to execute on both ends in the third quarter, scoring just nine points, with six of them coming from Rachel Banham. They trailed 49-69 going into the fourth quarter. Golden State went on a 27-5 run from 8:20 in the third quarter to 8:39 in the fourth quarter.

After knocking down their season high in three-pointers in their last game against the Mystics with 11, the Valkyries continued their hot shooting, going 14 of 27 from beyond the arc, setting a new high.

Rachel Banham and Cardoso were positives in the loss as they put up 15 and 14 points, respectively. While the Sky struggled offensively as a whole, they shared the ball well and assisted on 20 of 23 made baskets.

Quote of the game from Elizabeth Williams: “We’re pros. It’s a privilege to play this game at this level. As a collective, we have to be consistent in playing for 40 minutes and just have an attitude of confidence, regardless of our situation.”

The Sky dropped to 8-25 on the season. They look to get back on track on Tuesday against the Seattle Storm (17-17).