Following the conclusion of Tuesday night’s game against the Dream, the Sky are officially a quarter through their season. The hard-fought matchup which ended in favor of Atlanta 82-75 marked a vital turning point in the mentality of the Sky looking ahead.

The game was characterized by grit and perseverance - which followed the theme of the Sky’s first six games of the season - seeing 15 lead changes and 13 ties within the closely contested 40 minutes. The Sky were able to improve their season-average 27.9% from deep to 53.3% against the Dream, sinking eight of 15 three-point attempts.

“This game was great for us just because now we know we can do it. We know we can play hard, and we just got to be able to put that together for 40 minutes,” Kamilla Cardoso said after her stand-out performance.

Cardoso put up 13 points, four blocks, and five assists while scoring her 1,000th career point last night. The Sky as a whole exemplified great unity and strength, showing promise for the continuation of their season.

While Chicago fought strongly throughout the whole game, Atlanta pulled away at the end with a 15-6 run from 4:53 to 0:56 in the fourth quarter. The Sky’s missed opportunities in these last five minutes did not reflect their performance for the game. In fact, despite the loss, there are plenty of reasons for optimism from the Sky faithful.

The Sky have help on the horizon. Five-time All-Star Courtney Vandersloot and veteran DiJonai Carrington are recovering from injuries that have caused them to not appear in any games so far. But those injuries don’t tell the full story of just how ravaged the Sky have been.

Just four games into the regular season, star forward Rickea Jackson suffered a season-ending injury. In addition, Azurá Stevens and Gabriela Jaquez both missed at least four games apiece.

While having a limited roster came with setbacks in the beginning of this season, the Sky’s game against Atlanta showed promise that a turnaround could be in the cards. The Sky were also recently able to claim victory over the Sun, 85-80.

The key to Chicago’s strong play against Atlanta was their depth in spite of the injuries, with the Sky’s bench outscoring their opponents in seven of their 12 regular season games and 28-4 against Atlanta. Having players like guard Natasha Cloud and rookie Sydney Taylor coming off the bench allow the Sky to play with energy.

That energy was felt in Wintrust on Tuesday, with the Sky almost pulling away with the victory, keeping the game against one of the league’s top teams a one-score game until the final two minutes.

“We’re not happy with a loss. I’ll never be happy with a loss. I’m a sore loser, too,” Cloud said.  “But what we said in the locker room is if we play this hard, this consistently, and we can fix those minutes, which are controllable factors for us, we’re going to be in a really good position.”  

With their tough mentality, the Sky can be a force moving forward. Chicago has all the pieces it needs to be a highly successful team, and all they needed was a collective fire to push them to bring the pieces together.

“It’s going to take this type of effort, this type of fight, and this type of grit every single night.,” Cloud said.