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WNBA Chicago Sky

Chicago Sky 90, Atlanta Dream 82

August 27, 2016 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Chicago Sky News Release


Elena Delle Donne recorded her fourth 30-plus point game of the season, leading all scorers with 34. Delle Donne also set a new season high from the free throw line, going 14-for-14. In her last three home games against the Dream, Delle Donne has averaged 35.1 points and 9.0 rebounds per game.

Additionally, Delle Donne passed Jia Perkins to move into fourth all-time in scoring in Sky history. Delle Donne now sits at 2,076 career points and will look to pass Candice Dupree (2,100) next.

The Sky out-rebounded the Dream by a 43-28 margin. Imani Boyette led the team with nine, while Courtney Vandersloot and Cappie Pondexter tied their season highs in rebounds with seven and six, respectively. * Despite coming off the bench, Cheyenne Parker tied her career high in field goals made with six and also recorded her 500th WNBA minute. She led all non-starters on both teams in scoring with 14 points.

Tonight's victory was the 100th of Sky Head Coach & General Manager Pokey Chatman's career. Chatman is the 13th coach in WNBA history to reach the milestone, and is the winningest coach in Sky history.

Courtney Vandersloot tied Sylvia Fowles for third-most steals in in Sky history (210).

The Sky set a season high for points in the third quarter with 31. The Sky went on a 15-0 run spanning 2:10 late in the quarter. There were four lead changes in the third quarter, but Chicago finished the quarter with a 13-point advantage over Atlanta. It was also Chicago's largest lead of the game.

Delle Donne scored 23 of her total 34 points in the second half and 15 in the third quarter, alone. Delle Donne recorded eight points during Chicago's 15-0 run in the third. Prior to the game, Delle Donne, Erika de Souza and Clarissa Dos Santos were honored for their contributions in the 2016 Summer Olympics. Delle Donne won gold with the USA Women's National Basketball Team while Dos Santos and de Souza played for Brazil.

Angel McCoughtry led the Dream with 22 points, marking her 14th 20-plus point game of the season.

Elizabeth Williams came within one point of tying her career high of 21 points, finishing with 20. Williams also led the Dream with eight rebounds.

The Sky has now won the last seven match-ups with Atlanta when Chicago played host.

QUOTES

Chicago Sky Head Coach and General Manager Pokey Chatman

(Opening statement...)

"There were some specific things that we talked about as a team that related to having success against Atlanta. One was their ability to attack the offensive glass, and I look at the fact that we out-rebounded them by 15. We took care of the basketball, and I think the key was we married that to good offensive execution and attacked and got to the free throw line. I think that comfort allowed us to weather the storm when we were down by seven and then up by eight. It was nice to see that, and we'll need it as we head on to Dallas."

(On Cheyenne's progress over the season...)

"I think it's just the natural maturation process. Then also being around these players and knowing she's needed. [She's] creating opportunity for herself, learning the pro game, and she's always being an aggressive person. She does the things that don't show up on the stat sheet. I think it was just the natural order of things for her to lock in and focus and be a sponge and put herself in position to help this team in areas we need it."

(On Jessica Breland's game performance...)

"I thought Jessica Breland's mentality was a lot more aggressive. I know she probably had five rebounds, two or three buckets. She altered some shots. She guarded Angel [McCoughtry] because she has length, and I thought when she caught the ball there was not any hesitation."

Chicago Sky Forward Cheyenne Parker | 14 points, 4 rebounds

(On her strong offensive rebounding...)

"I just always crash the boards. Crashing the boards, in itself, will give you the opportunity to get an offensive rebound. I just make it a habit to crash the boards every time because it gets the game going for everybody; it's a second opportunity."

(On what lead to her strong third quarter performance...)

"Patience, just staying patient and slowing down my mindset...It helped get the wings open by sprinting to the block in transition, setting good step-up screens and transition screens. Just doing everything that I've been learning throughout the season."

Chicago Sky Guard Cappie Pondexter | 17 points, 6 rebounds & 5 assists

(On what the team has to do going forward...)

"What we talked about over the break is these last ten games. I think it's important that we take it one game at a time. We started tonight with Atlanta and now we have to go to Dallas. We've got five games at home. Our focus just has to be really small, one specific game, we can't focus on what the other teams are doing right now. It's about us and what we worked on so hard over the break."

(On her shooting and trusting her teammates in the post...)

"I'm a scorer, so I have to keep shooting no matter what. I can do a lot of different things so it doesn't matter if it's falling or not. We worked a lot on actually getting the ball into the post and trusting them more than we had in the beginning of the season and allowing them to go to work. It opened a lot of things up and it gave the posts a lot of confidence."

Atlanta Dream Associate Head Coach Karleen Thompson

(On final month of the season...)

"These teams are good, and we just have to come bring it. We have to stay focused; this is one game down. We will continue to do what we need to do to keep ourselves in the playoffs, and go from there."

(On trading runs with the Sky...)

"The Sky is a very good team. They have very good players. They have weapons all over the court, as we do. So it's going to be a dogfight every time. We can't turn the ball over as much as we did, and give up that many points. They killed us on the offensive glass. We have to do a better job boxing out, and just sustaining the run and playing our defense. Play as hard as we can and see what the outcome is."

(On playing catch up most of the game...)

"Basketball is a game of runs, so at some point you are going to be behind or be up. They came from behind. It was a dogfight, you have to sustain it and stay focused. They played a better game tonight and came out with the win.

(On keeping composed heading into the fourth down 13...)

"We have been there before. We are going to be there again. We have a young group that is still growing. Like I said before, Chicago is a good team. We just keep them focused and continue to do what we have to do to put them in the best position to win games."

Atlanta Dream Forward Angel McCoughtry

(On finding a consistency...)

"They offensive rebounded very well. We felt we had the game, and they just got rebound after rebound after rebound. That's how they wound up getting the lead, and we could never recover from that lead."

(On if playing catch-up affected the game plan...)

"Not really, we were there. Just some little mistakes that we have to adjust and get together. Other than that, Chicago fought hard and everyone is trying to get a playoff spot. We have to figure it out."

(On playing with Chicago Sky Forward Elena Delle Donne in Rio...)

"I love her. She gave me tickets to see beach volleyball. She's so sweet. Her game is amazing. I had so much fun playing with her, I hate that I have to play against her. I wish we could play on the same team. She's a great person and deserves nothing but the best."

Atlanta Dream Center Elizabeth Williams

(On finding a consistency...)

"We did not do a good job rebounding today, throughout the whole game. When we had our runs, we were getting good defensive stops and getting good defensive rebounds. When [the Sky] had their runs, they were just killing us on the boards. They would get to the line on some loose ball plays. So that really hurt us."

(On playing from behind...)

"Basketball is a game of runs, that's just the way the game is played. I think for us, we have to be more consistent in doing the little things. If we are more consistent in boxing out, those runs will not be as long or hard to pull ourselves out of that deep hole."

(On improvements needed to make for a playoff run...)

"Just do the little things. Championship teams do the little things, and that's our ultimate goal. For us, learning from this game, putting it behind us, and getting ready for Sunday."

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