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SKY NOTES

Center Stefanie Dolson returned to the lineup after missing the last seven games due to a strained tendon. She had three field goals in the second quarter and finished with 13 points and five rebounds.
Guard Allie Quigley finished with a team-high 21 points and currently averages 14.8 points per game.
The Sky outscored the Mystics 26-12 in the third quarter in their comeback attempt and cut the margin to 11 heading into the fourth quarter.
Rookie forward Gabby Williams finished with 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds while guarding Delle Donne for the majority of the game.
Guard Courtney Vandersloot dished out a team-high seven assists and has led the team in assists in four consecutive contests.

MYSTICS NOTES

Former Sky forward Elena Delle Donne finished the game with a game-high 30 points on 9-for-16 shooting and 2-for-4 from downtown. She finished with 14 points and seven rebounds in Washington’s 88-60 win over the Sky on Tuesday.
Washington poured in 30 points in the first quarter. It was only the second time this season they scored 30+ in the first quarter, dating back to June 13 against Connecticut (31).
The Mystics recorded seven blocked shots compared to two by the Sky. The team ranks No. 7 in the league in blocked shots.
The team shot 51.5 percent and 43.5 percent from the 3-point line. The team ranks tied for third in points per game at 84.5.

POSTGAME QUOTES

SKY GENERAL MANAGER AND HEAD COACH AMBER STOCKS

On the game:
“This was an exciting game, it was a tale of two halves. The passion, commitment, grit, talent, fortitude, hustle, togetherness and chemistry that we played with in the third and fourth quarter stood out to me. That’s what I’m holding on to. These are the tangibles we need to carry over and continue to press forward with.”

On the biggest difference between the third quarter and start of the game:
“The press. Our full court pressure, the way our perimeter players really took the forefront in picking the ball up. That’s hard, and it takes a lot to do. What you saw, Q [Quigley], Sloot [Vandersloot], J [Faulkner], Copper, Diamond out there picking the ball up full court, possession after possession takes a lot, and I think that was the catalyst and the ignition for our momentum.”

On the fourth-quarter push:
“They hit some big shots. When you can have some different options with the pick and pop, its hard to guard, and give them some credit for hitting some decent 15-footers. We had some nice looks that just didn’t go in as well.”

On Williams’ defense/team defense on Delle Donne:
“Our team defense was phenomenal and Gabby did a great job of really getting in the space of some of the Washington players. Our team did a great job of supporting and talking throughout the rotations. It’s not just what happens on the ball, it’s what happens on the supporting positioning of the other defenders. I thought we did a great job of talking and rotating and being the aggressor in certain situations defensively.

SKY CENTER STEFANIE DOLSON

On returning and her physical state:
“Obviously the game was disappointing – to not win. But like coach said, we played well in the third and fourth quarters we just have to take that and run with it. I felt wonderful being back; it was a little weird. I’ve never been out for that long so it was nice to be back and be able to play with my teammates and in front of our fans too for the first game. I’m excited to be back.”

SKY GUARD ALLIE QUIGLEY

On her performance:
“I think once we started getting stops and committing to moving the ball that open shots were finding everyone. That was the biggest thing, the ball was moving.”

MYSTICS HEAD COACH MIKE THIBAULT

On the game:
“We tweaked a few things just to keep the ball moving in the first half. I think that’s as good a half of basketball that we’ve played all year. I mean, to score 64 points in a half, we did a lot of things right and we were active on the defensive end. We forced a bunch on turnovers, so we were as good as we could be for a half. Then the third quarter came, and they disrupted the game. They did a good job with their pressure, and we turned it over instead of them. We’re not normally a turnover team, but we had 10 or 11 turnovers in the 3rd quarter, and we looked like we were just…they sped us up a little bit, and we just kind of chucked the ball around.”

On the Sky’s third quarter press:
“I think part of it is that they got tired too. I think that the other part of it is that we kind of got them calmed down a little bit at the end of the third quarter. We subbed and had four guards for a minute or two to try to take the pressure off. I think you can only press like they did for so long, and then their legs got a little tired from doing it too. That’s too hard at the pro level to do it for two or three quarters. They were really good at it in the third quarter, and I think they ran out of gas a little bit too.”

MYSTICS FORWARD ELENA DELLE DONNE

On the win:
“It’s always really tough when you play at home, you have a big win like that, and then you have to go play at their home, and just kind of start fresh. So, I thought we came out really great. Unfortunately, we didn’t keep our focus and our aggression throughout the entire game. We let their pressure get to us, and we just weren’t getting into our offenses and our flow the way we can, so we’ll learn from it. We get to go home now, get practice, and then we’ve got a huge week ahead of us.”

On being back in Chicago:
“It was great. A really nice welcoming, a lot of familiar faces, and people cheering me on, so it was nice seeing a lot of the faces that I’ve seen over the four years of playing here. I was sad the weather wasn’t great, and there wasn’t a Cubs game that I could go to, but there’s always next year.”

MYSTICS GUARD KRISTI TOLIVER

On energy during the game:
“We knew needed to keep our energy up. Whenever you’re on the road you have to bring that energy, especially after you just played a team three days prior to, and the way that we won the last game we knew that they were going to come back and have a little fire in them. So, we just wanted to maintain that energy and aggressiveness throughout the game, and we kind of had lapses, but overall we brought it.”

On maintaining composure during third quarter:
“They certainly put the pressure on us the way we were putting full-court pressure on them. They kind of gave us a dose of our own medicine, so we didn’t handle it great. I think that’s obviously something we’re going to work on because other teams are going to start doing it, but we just wanted to stay the course. And, we were able to do that through our defense more than anything.”

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