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Chicago Sky

Delle Donne, Sky Complete Season Sweep Of Stars

July 19, 2015 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Chicago Sky News Release


ROSEMONT - The Chicago Sky (10-6) defeated the San Antonio Stars (4-12) by a score of 93-82 on Sunday night at Allstate Arena. Prior to tip-off, Elena Delle Donne was presented with her Eastern Conference Player of the Month Award for the month of June. She backed up her hardware with an impressive performance against the Stars, leading the Sky with 29 points and 13 rebounds. With tonight's win, Chicago completed the season sweep of San Antonio for the first time since the 2010 season.

"When you have two of the best scorers, in my opinion, in the league and they do it in so many different ways, it's really easy for me to get them the ball," said Sky point guard Courtney Vandersloot. "We're playing really well together and I think that's why our offense is flowing so well."

Chicago scored four quick points in the first minute of the contest, forcing San Antonio Head Coach Dan Hughes to call an early timeout. Chicago benefited from a total team effort in the first quarter, seeing six different players score at least two points. Delle Donne paced the Sky with nine points and Allie Quigley added six, as the Sky led the Stars 30-20 at the end of the first.

Delle Donne led the Sky with nine more points in the second quarter, finishing with 18 points at halftime. She also pulled down 10 rebounds in the first half to record a double-double in the first 20 minutes of action as Chicago led San Antonio 50-35 at intermission.

The Stars began the third quarter on a 9-2 run, behind a pair of three-pointers by Danielle Adams and Kayla McBride. Jessica Breland countered for the Sky, scoring eight points in the quarter, including two separate three-point plays. The Sky led the Stars 71-57 heading into the fourth quarter.

San Antonio cut the Sky lead to seven on a Sophia Young-Malcom two-pointer with 7:48 remaining in the fourth quarter. That was the closest the Stars would get, however, as Chicago cruised to a 93-82 victory.

Delle Donne recorded her league-leading ninth double-double, finishing with 29 points and 13 rebounds. Courtney Vandersloot scored 14 points, including six in the fourth quarter and added eight assists. Quigley scored 15 points, Cappie Pondexter scored 12 and Breland added 10 for the Sky. Danielle Adams led San Antonio with 20 points off the bench.

The Sky will play Atlanta on Tuesday night for the final game before the 2015 WNBA All-Star break. Tip-off is set for 7:00pm CT at Allstate Arena. Following the All-Star break, Chicago will return to action on July 28th at 9:00 pm CT against Phoenix at Talking Stick Resort Arena.

Postgame Notes:

Chicago Sky 93, San Antonio Stars 82

Notes

With a 93-82 victory over San Antonio tonight, Chicago has swept the season series (2-0) for the first time since the 2010 season.

Delle Donne's game-high 29 points and 13 rebounds marked her league-leading ninth double-double.

Five Sky players scored in double-figures in tonight's game including Elena Delle Donne (29), Jessica Breland (10), Cappie Pondexter (12), Courtney Vandersloot (14) and Allie Quigley (15). The Sky is now 8-2 when four or more players score in double-figures.

The Sky's ten wins in 16 games are the quickest the team has gotten to the ten win mark since the 2013 season.

After tonight's 93 points, the Sky 2-0 is now averaging a league-leading 85.1 points per game. The Sky is now 9-2 when they score more than 80 points.

Delle Donne scored 29 points despite not attempting a free-throw for the first time since August 7th, 2014 at Minnesota. She came into tonight's game averaging 7.8 free-throw attempts per game.

After finishing with 14 points, Allie Quigley is now averaging 14.3 points in her last three games coming off the bench.

San Antonio's Danielle Adams scored a season-high 20 points. Her previous high was 14 points at Phoenix on 6/5/15.

The Stars fall to 0-3 on the season in games played on Sunday.

San Antonio's bench out-scored Chicago's bench 45-20.

In her first game back since 7/2/15, Kayla McBride scored 14 points and recorded four assists.

QUOTES

Chicago Sky Head Coach and General Manager Pokey Chatman

(On if she's looking for something particular out of her team before the All-Star Break...)

"I want to go into the break with a win. I want that euphoric feeling of playing well against a good team so we can rest and the world can enjoy some of the athletes at the All-Star Break. I really want to play well and have some success, that's going to help a lot."

(On the importance of winning at home...)

"It's nice that we got that tough road stretch out of the way and we get to a point where we can unpack our bags and get into a routine. We talk about routine when it comes to preparing, but also routine as it comes to being home. It's tremendous to protect home [court] and gain some momentum so you can go on the road and maybe steal one."

Chicago Sky Guard/ Forward Elena Delle Donne

(On struggling to score at times during the past few games...)

"I think it's situational. Like Sloot [Courtney Vandersloot] said we have players who can come in and step up and score a lot of points. It's going to vary from game-to-game and we just like to make the correct reads and we've been really successful with it."

(On her shooting flow tonight...)

"I just felt more in an attack mode today after getting rebounds. I was just pushing it and trying to attack and getting them a different look. That's something I'm going to continue to try and do."

(On her ninth double-double and the importance of her scoring and rebounding...)

"It's huge. I think it's just as important or even more important to grab the rebounds because if we can get rebounds and we can get stops, we get into transition offense where we're a really dominate team so it's crucial."

(On the All-Star game and being the lead vote-getter...)

"It's a really humbling thing to know that I had the most votes out of all of these incredible players and I just want to have a really fun time. I'm glad our coaching staff will be there. That will be a lot of fun as well. It will be nice to get a little bit of a break but also have fun playing with the best players in the league."

Chicago Sky Guard Courtney Vandersloot

(On facilitating the offense through multiple scoring threats...)

"I love it. It makes my job easy. When you have two of the best scorers, in my opinion, in the league and they do it in so many different ways, it's really easy for me to get them the ball. We're playing really well together and I think that's why our offense is flowing so well."

(On how physical tonight's game was...)

"It was [physical], but that's the name of the game. I think everyone on every team is beat up; that's just the way it goes. But, we're good."

San Antonio Stars Head Coach and General Manager Dan Hughes

(Opening statement...)

"I thought we made progress in the second half, but you've got to give Chicago credit. They came out of the gate strong, they shot the ball extremely well, and [Elena] Delle Donne made a variety of plays. She goes inside, she works off the glass, and she hurt us in isolation. She played extremely well."

(On areas for improvement...)

"First, getting our team back together. We're coming off injury, so it was good to see [Kayla] McBride play. She hasn't even had a practice with us yet, so it was great to get her on the court. Second, we have to rely on our ability to defend, and we had a hard time doing that today with Chicago."

(On Samantha Logic's adjustment...)

"It's [her adjustment] been really good. She's played more games than practice, so we haven't had the ability to practice her, but we like what we see. We hope to get some time to actually get her on the practice court and penetrate her into what we're doing."

San Antonio Stars Forward Danielle Adams

(On her focus for tonight's game...)

"Being aggressive. We needed that presence in the post, so it's my job to come down and be aggressive."

(On scoring a season-high tonight...)

"Being aggressive and contributing down low. I want to help the team in any way I can."

San Antonio Stars Forward Sophia Young-Malcolm

(On team chemistry...)

"I think we started off the season really poorly, and right now I feel like we're working on team chemistry and talking more. We're working and playing with each other a lot better by knowing what each player can do and that's helping our team chemistry."

(On the Stars' slow start to the game...)

"The slow start obviously affected the game negatively because we lost. I don't think we were ready for the game's tempo and they came out aggressive and we were playing back on our heels. With a team like this, we need to be focused because we know that they run a lot and score."

(On improvements for next game...)

"I think that we have to communicate a lot better defensively. I think our defense broke down a lot on us this game, so we just have to focus on that and communicate better with each other."

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