SKY NOTES

• Courtney Vandersloot finished the game with 14 points and a season-high 12 assists.
• Vandersloot also poured in two 3-pointers in the first quarter to tie her season-high of threes made in a game.
• The Sky scored a season-high 97 points in the win over Phoenix.
• Rookie forwards Gabby Williams and Diamond DeShields finished the game with 12 points and 16 points, respectively. Williams also added team-highs in rebounds (8) and steals (2).
• Chicago shot 49.3 percent from the field and 43.5 percent from behind the arc.
• Six Sky players scored in double figures for the game, led by guard Allie Quigley with 20 points on 7-for-12 from the field.
• The Sky bench outscored Phoenix’s second unit 32-14. Forward Cheyenne Parker led the second unit with 13 points and six rebounds.
• Phoenix guard Diana Taurasi came into the game averaging 20.4 points per contest, which ranked No. 4 in the league. The Sky held her to two points and no field goals in the first half.

MERCURY NOTES

• With the 97-88 loss to Chicago, the Mercury dropped its second consecutive game after the team’s eight-game win streak was snapped Friday night against Minnesota.
• Phoenix lost its first game of the season tonight when the Mercury’s ‘Big 3’ of DeWanna Bonner, Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi each score 12 or more points.
• Brittney Griner finished with team highs in points (19), rebounds (10) and blocks (4) tonight despite being ejected in the 3rd quarter due to a flagrant two foul…It was Griner’s 31st-career double-double, as she now sits one away from tying Candice Dupree for first on the Mercury’s all-time double-doubles list.
• Brittney Griner tied her career high in offensive rebounds tonight with six, which she has now done three times in her career.
• Diana Taurasi finished with 18 points and tied her season high in assists with eight this evening…13 of Taurasi’s 18 points came in the fourth quarter.
• Tonight marked the first loss of the season for the Mercury when five or more players score 10+ points. Entering tonight’s game ranked first in the league in assists per game (20.4), the Mercury dished 23 total assists in the loss.
• The Mercury collected 11 offensive rebounds tonight leading to 17 second chance points, which ties a season high.
• Tonight marked the Mercury’s first loss of the season with just one day of rest between games…Phoenix entered tonight 6-0 in games following just one day of rest.
• The Mercury will look to break its two-game winning streak on Tuesday when the team takes on the Liberty in New York…it will mark he second game of Phoenix’s current four-game road trip.

POSTGAME QUOTES

GENERAL MANAGER AND HEAD COACH AMBER STOCKS

 On the game:
“You could say it was a strange game. It was a good game. That was good basketball by both teams. We saw some good plays. [Quigley] said the other day to the team, putting into her own words ‘it’s not the team with the best players that win, its the players with the best team’ and today, we had a really good ‘team’ attack across the board, on both sides of the ball and on the sidelines. On all three dimensions of the court we had a fantastic team attack.”

On finding an identity:
“I don’t know that our identity is based on this game.  I think that we already have our identity. We established that last year with leading the league in assists. We have an identity of next pass, an identity of team basketball. We have identity of inside-out play, identity of moving the basketball side-to-side and our identity of being aggressive and rebounding. Today, those characteristics manifested themselves in multiple ways. [Vandersloot] gets in and gets another double-double on points and assists. That’s not new, so that’s not really establishing an identity, it’s just manifesting who we are, who she is and how our team plays at its best.”

On the bench play in the game:
“It’s funny when you say rely on our bench because that’s in the post, Cheyenne Parker and Stefanie Dolson, who are starters in every right. We have the ability, kind of like Allie just saluted to with the puzzle pieces -we have a team that is unique in that multiple people who don’t start on our team are WNBA starters. It allows our bench to be extremely productive. It allows us to go deep with confidence and with attack and when we sub, we sub with strength not with weakness.”

SKY GUARD COURTNEY VANDERSLOOT

On the passing lanes:
“[Dolson] makes a big difference out there. Her and I had a connection last year with the pick and roll, pick-and-pop type of thing. When she’s kind of hitting that shot, things open up other ways too. When Allie is hitting her shots it makes it pretty easy to get assists. That’s what it comes down to, the teammates making the big shots when we need them.”

On how bad they needed a win:
“Bad. We needed it bad. Like [Coach] said, we were all in a good mind state, we felt if we put a full game together, this would happen. We weren’t jumping ship but, let’s be honest we needed a win. We worked hard for it, we earned it.”

On team chemistry now that everyone is fully healthy:
“I think they key is getting everybody healthy.  Since I’ve been back [from injury], this is the first time we’ve played with a full roster. It felt good to be out there at full capacity, and I think if we continue to stay healthy, like [Allie] said things can turn around really fast for us.”

SKY GUARD ALLIE QUIGLEY

 On the team being fully healthy/chemistry:
“I think after a win like this, we’re going to try and take it and run with it, not get too high. But at the same time, enjoy it and take the good things that we did and keep doing it. It’s such a short season, so we’re going to try and keep this high and get on a roll here.”

On her role with the team and late-game aggressiveness:
“I just try to stay aggressive and not worry about the last play. I just know my job and my piece. We always talk about puzzle pieces on the team and that’s my piece, to always be aggressive and ready to shoot. Even if I miss 10, I have to keep shooting.”
MERCURY HEAD COACH SANDY BRONDELLO

 On the game:
“When you lose one of your best players, it’s always hard, and she’s a focal point of what we want to do, but it’s no excuse. She could be fouled off too. So, I just thought watching Chicago in their last game, I think they found their identity. And, they’re playing with way more confidence, and you try to highlight on the film as much as you can, and they’ve got some really good players. They’re playing extremely hard, they’re playing well together, they’re playing well at both ends of the floor. So, they made it uncomfortable for us, but I think we were our worst enemy. I don’t think we brought the necessary effort at the start of the game. We were slow out of the gate, and we had to play catch up the whole game.”
 
On the play of the Sky:
“They’re young and athletic. They can get in passing lanes. I think defensively, they’re doing a good job, they’re being good team defenders, they’re getting through screens, and that’s what you need. I mean, do they have a lock-me-down defender, no, but if you can rely on your team defense, that’s good. They’re persistent on they rebounding, and then they can get out and run. And look, I’ve got a lot of respect for Courtney. She’s one of the best point guards in this league, and when you have such a playmaker like that leading the team, it helps everyone, puts them in the right spots, and feel settled.”

On the adjustments going forward:
“There’s no need to panic. We lost two in a row, but we are 10-5. Every game it’s tough, and the schedule gets even harder from here. We’re going into New York, another team that’s struggling a little bit as well too. We’ve just got to get back to doing the effort points more. Just the one percenters. A little bit more execution, a little bit more effort, finishing shots when we need to. Simple.”

MERCURY GUARD DIANA TAURASI

On the game:
“Chicago played really well today. They came out there with more energy, more intent, more focus. I thought we did pretty good job pulling back in the first half and again in the second half, but they just, in every facet of the game, played a little bit better than us. And, they’re a good team and they’re going to start getting rolling. They’ve got a lot of talent on the team, so today was just a tough night for us, but I think Chicago should get all the credit.”

On the second half:
“I think in the first half, I was probably not as aggressive as I should have [been]. And obviously, when BG [Brittney Griner] went out I had to take a little bit more of an initiative, but we still got a lot of shots on offense that we usually knock down. And, when you miss and you play against an athletic team like that, they turn those misses into baskets and fast break opportunities.”
 
On the Griner ejection:
“I mean, I don’t know. I don’t even know the rules of the game anymore. I don’t know what they call, what they don’t call, what they want to call, what’s not a flagrant, what’s a regular call. From minute to minute, from quarter to quarter, the inconsistency of this league on that side of the ball is probably the most frustrating for players that have been in the league for a long time. And, you kind of just gotta smile or you gotta cuss them out, and then you get fined, so I did both today [laughs].”