The Chicago Sky (9-14) started strong against the New York Liberty (20-4), jumping out to a 10-3 lead. The home team was shooting the ball extremely well, particularly from the 3-point line. They also were crashing the boards and stifling the Liberty at the perimeter.
The Sky seemed poised for a potential victory. Until the second quarter.
The Liberty, who were without reigning WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart, would go on to outscore the Sky 29-13 in the second period to take a 43-34 lead at the half. The sharp shooting of Sabrina Ionescu (28 points, six assists, three rebounds), post play of Jonquel Jones (14 points, nine rebounds, seven assists), 3-point shooting of Leonie Fiebich (13 points, three 3-pointers) and high-field goal percentage of Ivana Dojkic (12 points, 80 percent shooting) was hard to contend with. Chicago looked fatigued and out of sorts after a fast start. The Sky also experienced some uncanniness on the part of some of their top talent. Most notably from Chennedy Carter. She didn’t play the entire third quarter and she didn’t score until the midway point of the fourth quarter.
After clawing their way back in the third quarter, the Sky seemed poised for a comeback. The 3-point shooting of Marina Mabrey, dynamic duo of Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso in the paint and the unexpected heroics of bench player Michaela Onyenwere were doing wonders.
However fatigue, defensive struggles in transition, turnovers and some questionable officiating led to their demise towards the end.
The most notable moment involved Reese, as she was poised to extend her record 15-game double-double streak. At the 2:02 minute mark, Reese, who had 8 points and over 10 rebounds, went for the putback shot before she was apparently blocked from behind by Jonquel Jones. The instant replay clearly showed a foul, but, much to the dismay of the hometown crowd, it wasn’t called. Her consecutive double-double streak ended with eight points and 16 rebounds.
Four New York Liberty players surrounded Angel Reese in the final possession of the game.
She was two points away from her 16th-straight double-double. pic.twitter.com/wHEy10egG3
— ESPN (@espn) July 13, 2024
The Sky had some other notable performances:
Marina Mabrey
She came away with her own double-double of 21 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. Mabrey also went 4-for-7 (57.1 percent) from the 3-point line.
The Sky have one of the lowest 3-point percentages in the league (31.4 percent). As the team…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Swish Appeal – All Posts…