The day after losing All-Star rookie Angel Reese for the rest of the season with a wrist injury, the Chicago Sky defeated the Dallas Wings 92-77 on Sunday in a dominating home performance.
Chennedy Carter led Chicago (13-22) with 28 points and six assists. Starting in place of Reese, Isabelle Harrison scored 21 points and added nine rebounds, while Kamilla Cardoso had 10 points and 11 boards, helping fill in the rebounding void left by Reese’s absence.
Despite starting the fourth quarter with a 24-point deficit, Dallas (9-26) battled back and cut 10 points off the deficit with 3:49 remaining. However, Chicago kept the game out of reach for the Wings, never allowing its lead to dip below 13 the rest of the way.
Overall, the Wings’ defense couldn’t handle Chicago or adjust to its blistering pace of 23 fastbreak points to 14 for Dallas.
It wasn’t all positive for the Sky as former All-Star Diamond DeShields suffered an injury early in the fourth. After a layup by Kalani Brown, DeShields fell to the court holding her ankle and sat out the rest of the game.
Chicago came out of the gate quickly, building a two-possession lead within the first three minutes. The Sky achieved it by attacking the basket, especially Carter, who scored 11 points in the first quarter. Those drives to the basket also put the Sky at the foul line 12 times in the first half compared to five for the Wings.
Meanwhile, Chicago’s defense pressured the Wings into bad shots. The Wings were outshot 52.8 percent to 37.8 percent in the first half and would’ve trailed by 20 if not for back-to-back jumpers by Arike Ogunbowale before the break.
Ogunbowale posted 23 points for Dallas while Natasha Howard scored 17 points and Satou Sabally added 12 points, with both adding six rebounds apiece.
With the win and the Atlanta Dream’s loss to the Indiana Fever earlier Sunday, the Sky hold a one-game lead over the Dream for the eighth and final playoff spot with five games remaining.
–Field Level Media