Delle Donne's 26 Not Enough As Sky Fall To Mystics
June 28, 2015 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Chicago Sky News Release
CHICAGO- On Sunday afternoon, the WNBA's leading scorer Elena Delle Donne and the Chicago Sky (5-4) returned to the court for a second consecutive road game, this time at the Verizon Center, as they took on the Washington Mystics (6-3). Despite 26 points and seven rebounds from Delle Donne, the Sky was unable to overcome a 20-point deficit in the third quarter as they fell 86-71 to the Mystics on the road.
Elena Delle Donne was aggressive early, scoring eight points to lead Chicago in the first quarter as the Sky and Mystics battled back-and-forth but Washington extended a 24-16 lead after one and never looked back. Meesseman set the tone for Washington early going 5-for-5 from the field with 10 points in the first.
Meeseman's hot shooting continued as the Mystics used a 12-6 run to start the second quarter, doubling their lead (30-16). The Sky responded, however, with an 8-0 run of their own, led by four points and two assists from Delle Donne, to pull back within seven points (33-26) with 5:49 remaining in the half. Despite trailing by as many as 15 in the first half, the Sky cut the deficit to just nine at the break (43-34).
Washington made an adjustment defensively in the third quarter as they held Delle Donne scoreless in over eight minutes of action. Dolson poured in 12 points in the third quarter to help Washington take a 66-48 lead heading into the fourth.
Entering the fourth quarter, Chicago had only been to the free throw line twice. Prior to Sunday's game, the Sky averaged 22.5 free throw attempts per game. Despite a 14-point effort from Delle Donne in the fourth quarter, the Sky could not pull any closer than 11 (80-69) and the Mystics earned an 86-71 victory at home.
"Truthfully it's the 86 points they scored that we are most upset about," said Delle Donne. "Putting up 71 that's not too bad a game, unfortunately we weren't able to get stops and that affects our offense a big amount."
Delle Donne led all scorers in the game with 26 points and seven rebounds. Allie Quigley and Cappie Pondexter were the only other Sky players to reach double figures contributing 10 points apiece. Meesseman led Washington with 20 points while Dolson contributed a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
The Sky will look to bounce back against the New York Liberty on June 30th at Allstate Arena. The nationally televised game beginning at 7pm CT on ESPN2 marks Chicago's annual "Pride Night". Fans are also invited to attend a pregame panel led by espnW's Mechelle Voepel tipping off at 6:15pm. To purchase tickets call 866.SKY.WNBA or visit CHICAGOSKY.NET.
Postgame Notes:
Chicago Sky 71, Washington Mystics 86
NOTES
Sky forward Elena Delle Donne finished with a game high 26 points. With a season average of 29.4 points per game, Delle Donne was held to 14 points in the first three quarters before scoring her remaining 12 points in the fourthSky guards Cappie Pondexter and Allie Quigley added 10 points apiece Chicago was outrebounded 37-24Entering the fourth quarter, Chicago had only been to the free throw line twice. Prior to Sunday's game, the Sky averaged 22.5 free throw attempts per game. Chicago finished the game 9-10 from the FT line. The game featured just two lead changes and two ties which both came in the first quarter. The Mystics controlled the pace of the game the majority of the way, leading by as much as 20. The Sky's only lead came at the 8:46 mark of the first quarter where they led by twoFour Mystics players scored in double figures led by forward Emma Meesseman who scored her fourth 20+ point game with 20 points, shooting 10-for-14 from the fieldMystics center Stefanie Dolson posted her second double-double of the season with a career high 19 points along with 10 boards. Dolson shot 7-for-13 from the field and 5-for-6 from the free throw line. 12 of her 19 points came in the third quarter aloneMystics guards Ivory Latta and Tayler Hill added 16 points apiece (tied a career high for Hill). Latta shot 5-for-7 from three point range and connected on one from the free throw line while Hill shot 6-for-8 from the field and 4-for-5 from three point range. Hill scored seven of her 16 points in the fourth quarter, connecting on a perfect 3-for-3 from the field with one from behind the arcThe Mystics dished out a season high 24 assists with three players leading in game high honors. Center Stefanie Dolson along with guards Ivory Latta and Kara Lawson each dished out five assists
QUOTES
Chicago Sky Head Coach and General Manager Pokey Chatman
(Overall thoughts on the game...)
"First off, congratulations to Washington. I thought they got off to a quick start offensively and we never quite gained the momentum back. We had a couple of runs but we had breakdowns in areas where you can't have them, like transition offense. Missed layups... transition three, turnover... transition two and those are the things we can clean up against any teams in the league let alone against a team that is playing well. They're at home, got a lot of weapons and that's just something we [have] to work on."
(On the Mystics dominating the third quarter...)
"Well I don't think they changed a lot because of what they were doing in the first half worked so they kept going to it. I thought we didn't have as good of an awareness for extended periods of time. The action would happen on the side and we were hugging our man, not in help, not in a rotation and quite honestly a couple of those threes they hit were contested. In the first half they were open but when you give a team, any team, momentum and confidence then those wide open shots that you get a little closer when they're contested they started hitting some of those to the tune of fouling and the three point shots."
Chicago Sky Guard/Forward Elena Delle Donne
(On the Mystics defense...)
"Truthfully it's the 86 points they scored that we are most upset about. Putting up 71 that's not too bad a game, unfortunately we weren't able to get stops and that affects our offense a big amount."
(Thoughts moving forward...)
"I think the biggest thing is we just have to become more of a consistent team defensively."
Washington Mystics Head Coach Mike Thibault
(Overall thoughts on the game...)
"They are a great shooting team and we tried to make them take certain kinds of shots. You know, [Elena] Delle Donne is tough. I guess I should feel good we held her three below her average. She's going to get some calls, she's a great free throw shooter. What I thought obviously our rebounding was a little better. We'll wait until we play other teams but that's a good first step and I thought offensively we executed. We moved the ball, made the extra pass, 24 on 35 baskets is pretty good. Stef (Stefanie Dolson) did a good job on the boards, obviously Emma's [Meesseman] doing what Emma does. I thought Tayler [Hill] gave us a huge lift tonight coming off of the bench. Tierra Ruffin-Pratt is kind of unheralded tonight because she gets that kind of non-glorious assignment. She has to guard Cappie [Pondexter]. I thought you know, she did a really good job at frustrating her tonight. It wasn't anybody that played poorly, we had a lot of people play. Ivory [Latta] gets a big four point play down the stretch. Kara [Lawson] makes a couple baskets there when we were kind of faltering a little bit. So we had a lot of good things tonight."
(On Meesseman's growth...)
"You know I've been touting Emma's horn all season. I think she's an All-Star. It would be a pretty good All-Star game to see her and Delle Donne playing together but I think that gives us something to throw back at teams as a weapon, it's pretty sensational for us right now. "
(On the rebounding...)
"I told our team until we do it two or three times in a row I'm not giving them the benefit of the doubt yet. So they got to do a little bit better of a job for several games and then I'll be happy."
Washington Mystics Center Stefanie Dolson
(Overall thoughts on the game and her development...)
"I think I've had a little bit more confidence lately. Obviously you know, it sucks not having Kia [Vaughn] here but it gives people an opportunity to step up and in practice I've been getting a lot of reps. So I've just been trying to go in and have the mentality of working as hard as I can, doing what the coach asks and when I get the opportunity to score the basketball.
(On tonight's rebounding versus the last two games...)
"Just the emphasis on it in practice. Coach is making sure that we're always working on it and we always have it in our head. As posts we had a goal for ourselves today, certain number of rebounds as something to reach for. So going into the game, we really had it in our minds. We had the mentality of making the extra effort."
Women's National Basketball Association Stories from June 28, 2015
- Tulsa vs. Seattle June 28 Postame Notes and Quotes - Tulsa Shock
- Delle Donne's 26 Not Enough As Sky Fall To Mystics - Chicago Sky
- Sugar Rodgers' Career High 23 Points Lead New York Liberty Past Los Angeles, 79-70 - New York Liberty
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