With hundreds of local youth summer campers ready to erupt, Natasha Cloud made sure to hold her follow-through.

Up 88-85 with roughly 90 seconds to spare against the Seattle Storm, Sky guard Courtney Vandersloot shuffled a jump-pass to the 34-year-old veteran in the left corner. Against a backdrop of kids donning neon T-shirts, Cloud drilled her attempt from beyond the arc to elicit an outburst from those scattered across Wintrust Arena for Chicago’s annual camp game.

Her late launch on July 15 ultimately helped lift the Sky to their eighth triumph of the season, a game in which veteran center Elizabeth Williams moved to No. 10 on the WNBA’s all-time blocks list, rookie sensation Sydney Taylor connected on her 100th career field goal and Chloe Bibby set new career highs in points (14) and assists (4) in just 19 minutes off the bench in her debut with Chicago.

Two nights later, Tyler Marsh’s unit rode that momentum to a 14-point win over Los Angeles, marking the organization’s third win over a five-game span. Center Kamilla Cardoso’s 13-point, 11-rebound double-double, coupled with Taylor’s game-best 19 tallies, fueled a group complete with contributors.

Immediately after the All-Star break, Chi-Town's finest recorded their second-best come-from-behind victory, defeating the Connecticut Sun after falling behind by as many as 14 points.

That’s exactly what Chicago – a younger squad in the midst of cementing a sustainable culture for the future – showcases on a nightly basis. Marsh’s ensemble is deep and talented, and it can look any other contender in the eye throughout each 40-minute sprint.

Take the last month of the season, a period in which Taylor found her footing in the starting lineup and Vandersloot returned to the hardwood after being sidelined with injury for over a year. Chicago is 6-6 dating back to June 24, but the record doesn’t convey just how competitive this group is.

Five of those losses are to the Las Vegas Aces, Dallas Wings, Atlanta Dream and New York Liberty by a combined 4.8 points per defeat. As of the All-Star break, all four squads firmly occupy a position in the eight-team playoff picture. Since that moment, the Sky are a plus-50.

Las Vegas required overtime to silence the Sky on July 3, and both Atlanta and New York capitalized in their closing possessions in Chicago’s final two contests before the break. In other words, a few missed shots or timely bounces separate the Sky from a 12-15 mark, which would put them just a few games out from the No. 8 seed. That’s the type of competitiveness this team brings to the table.

At 10-18, Chicago sits at No. 13 in the WNBA and No. 6 in the Eastern Conference. They’re 5 ½ games out from the No. 8 seed, but the path toward contention isn’t as murky as it might be advertised.

Six of the Sky’s 16 remaining games come against teams currently outside of the playoff race, including a pair against the WNBA-worst Storm and another one against the No. 14-seeded Connecticut Sun. Chicago is 8-5 against teams clawing for a postseason position, a promising sign down the stretch.

The Sky also wrap the final week of the regular season with two games against the No. 8-seeded Washington Mystics, a team rostering 12 players aged 25 or younger. If Chicago can execute against the bottom half of the league, the final series against Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafin’s group could prove the difference.

But against any type of foe, Chicago can walk into an opposing venue with proven playmakers.

Cloud is responsible for six assists per game since being inserted into the starting lineup on July 7. Taylor is one of two rookies across the league with multiple 30+ point games and is now in sole possession of the most 30+ point games by any rookie in franchise history. Cardoso is averaging career highs in scoring (14.1), field goal percentage (58.6%) and blocks (1.7), and Azurá Stevens – the author of 14 double-digit scoring games this season – routinely stuffs Chicago’s stat sheet with two-way gems.

That’s not even mentioning franchise icon Vandersloot, multi-time All-Star Skylar Diggins and second-unit spark plugs Gabriela Jaquez, Aicha Coulibaly and Jacy Sheldon, who provide Marsh’s platoon with the energy and passion required to exchange buckets with as talented a crop of players to ever represent the WNBA.

So, as Chicago approaches the most critical stretch of the season, the team looks connected. The next generation – headlined by Taylor and Cardoso – isn’t scared of the stage, while veteran leaders still inject both sides of the floor with intensity.

The Sky’s playoff venture continues with the Las Vegas Aces on Saturday at Wintrust Arena. With a few days of rest and a victory in the recent rearview, Chicago appears poised to prove doubters wrong.