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Chicago Sky

Chicago Sky Picks up 4th Straight Win in Victory over New York Liberty

June 19, 2019 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Chicago Sky News Release


CHICAGO NOTES

- Chicago won their fourth straight game, their first four-game winning streak since 2016.

- The Sky scored a new season-high 91 points against the Liberty.

- Stefanie Dolson recorded a block for the fourth straight game.

- Chicago outrebounded the Liberty 27-20 in the first half and 40-32 in the game overall.

- The Sky reserves outscored the Liberty reserves 27-7, including 13 points from Cheyenne Parker off the bench. - Courtney Vandersloot scored a new season-high 25 points.

NEW YORK NOTES

- New York's loss keeps them winless against the Eastern Conference this season. - Tina Charles moved up another notch on the WNBA all-time scoring list in her 16-point performance, passing DeLisha Milton-Jones (5571) to become 12th overall.

- The Liberty shot just 21% from the field in the first quarter.

- After coming off of a career high 37 points last game against the Aces, Amanda Zahui B recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

- Asia Durr dished out a career-high three assists and was a point shy of her career-high in scoring with 19 points

- Tina Charles made a personal season-best two 3-point field goals.

- The Liberty shot a season-best 45.5% from behind the 3-point line.

POSTGAME QUOTES

SKY GENERAL MANAGER AND HEAD COACH JAMES WADE

On the fourth quarter:

"We put the ball in our playmakers hands. And we want to make good decisions with the ball... Pressure free throws is something I expect of us.... We have players with just a short season who step up in those moments. It's been good for us so far hopefully it can keep going."

On team performance:

"If we execute our game plan we are going to have a good game... We take what the defense gives us we have multiple threats. Diamond DeShields started off fast and the Liberty defense shifted towards her. Diamond is someone we trust with the ball we know she is going to make good decisions whether it is to score or to distribute. She looked to score today and she was successful."

On the next competition:

"We have Indiana and its good team it is hard to beat a team in a short amount of time twice... I'm always a little nervous of those moments, good thing is we haven't been home and were looking at just that game. I know we won four in a row and that is great and dandy but I would prefer five."

SKY GUARD COURTNEY VANDERSLOOT

On the Sky's effort and results:

"It's nice. It's good to have a couple road wins. We came into this season confident; we knew what we had and we knew what we could be it's just a matter of doing it and proving it to everyone else."

On Tina Charles and the Liberty team:

"We made things difficult for Tina Charles, which is the key to this team. When she is comfortable and things are going well for her and her teammates just kind of follow. Stef (Dolson) did a great job on her and she wasn't able to get comfortable."

On moving forward:

"We are not satisfied we still have a lot to work on and we still have good team's coming up. We are just going to keep getting better and keep this going."

On individual effort:

"If I'm getting open shots I'm going to look to take them. And that's what this team needs from me."

SKY GUARD ALLIE QUIGLEY

On today's game:

"We had a great start and that's all our focus has been the last three weeks has been defense and rebounding and boxing out."

On facing Indiana again:

"They are going to come out really hungry and looking to get us back so we have to be ready to play good defense again and take care of the ball."

LIBERTY HEAD COACH KATIE SMITH

On the outcome of the game:

"Tough one, battled, good energy, just too many easy opportunities on both ends that we didn't take advantage of both defensively and offensively, and getting a couple of more shots to fall."

On the team trending in the right direction:

"I think our energy from start to finish is great. I think our tempo is better but on a consistent basis, it's the little stuff. We know this team was a good scoring team, they had people scoring all over the floor, but the little opportunities, easy buckets in transition, the duck-ins, little stuff like that, that stuff has to be taken away to get a win like this against a team that can score pretty easily. And on our end, making a couple of extra buckets would be helpful. I think our team has been locked in, we had five people in double figures, there's a lot of positives that we're building on and I just want us to keep doing that."

On the defense having trouble:

"A lot of it is one-on-one, duck-ins, you have to anticipate, you can't let people put their bodies and numbers in front of you. You can't sag off of their shooters, but it's a one-on-one battle, and you can't allow them to have easy touches, you have to put your body on them, the same as they do for us."

On how concerned she is about turnovers and missed layups:

"Turnovers in bad spots, but nine turnovers in the game isn't bad for us but of course, layups we have to finish, especially easy opportunities. Concerned, sure, but the opportunities were there we just need to finish them."

LIBERTY CENTER TINA CHARLES

On positives from this game:

"I want to say we just kept fighting hard. It was slow at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Asia Durr made big shots towards the end to try to keep us in the game, Zahui B started coming alive, but that would be about it."

On Asia Durr's performance:

"That's her relationship with Katie (Smith), the way she approaches her, telling her to be aggressive, she's been responding, so her relationship with Katie and Katie encouraging her to be aggressive."

On the key for the next stretch of games:

"Just staying together, everybody just doing their roles, everybody just being confident in what they bring to the team, and knowing if they bring that, we should be alright and come out with wins in those games."

LIBERTY GUARD ASIA DURR

On the team's improvements:

"Just closing out the games and playing hard for our four quarters. We have had some good starts, but we have to do it each quarter, each play, we had some good looks out there, we had a few breakdowns, but we are just trying to build."

On what keeps her going:

"Just trying to be a sponge, trying to learn. I push myself everyday just trying to be great, but at the same time it's been very challenging mentally as well. I am just trying to learn."

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