WNBA Chicago Sky

Postgame Notes: Chicago Sky 88, Indiana Fever 95

Published on September 9, 2016 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Chicago Sky News Release


Postgame Notes

* Cappie Pondexter recorded a new season high with 22 points. She was 8-for-18 (44.4%) from the field and 6-of-8 (75.0%) from the free throw line tonight. She is now 11 points away from passing Lisa Leslie as fifth all-time in WNBA scoring. * Jamierra Faulkner made her 13th start of the season and scored 14 points in 21 minutes played. * Jessica Breland made her 12th start of the season and recorded 13 points and a team-leading nine rebounds. * Courtney Vandersloot recorded double-digit points for the fifth time in six games since returning from the Olympic Break. Vandersloot finished with 15 points. * The Sky recorded a season-high 12 steals, with Cappie Pondexter and Courtney Vandersloot leading the way with four each. * Cheyenne Parker returned to action after missing two games with an ankle injury. She scored seven points and grabbed five rebounds and tied a season high with two steals. * Elena Delle Donne (thumb) and Tamera Young (ankle) both missed tonight's game. Their statuses remain day-to-day. * The Sky trailed by 10 points early in the fourth quarter and tied the game at 86 with 2:19 remaining. But Briann January scored the game's final six points all at the free throw line and made a key steal on Chicago's penultimate possession to propel Indiana to the win. * The Fever won two of the three regular season matchups over Chicago this season, giving Indiana the advantage in a head-to-head tiebreaker scenario. * Indiana snapped a three-game regular season home losing streak to the Sky. * The Fever leads the all-time series 32-13 with an 18-5 record over the Sky at home. * By virtue of a Fever victory and losses by Washington and Connecticut, Indiana can clinch a playoff berth for a 12th consecutive season with a win Sunday at Washington. * January led Indiana with a season-high 20 points on 5-for-7 shooting and 8-for-9 from the free throw line. * Tamika Catchings finished with six points and a team-high eight rebounds. She now needs nine rebounds to pass Lisa Leslie into first place on the WNBA's career rebounding list. * Erica Wheeler finished with 14 points and made a career-high three three-point field goals. * Shenise Johnson finished with nine points and shot 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Dating back to July 15, Johnson has now made her last 29 free throw attempts, tying the third-longest streak in franchise history (Nikki McCray, 29 straight from July 6 to August 3, 2002). * Marissa Coleman continued her hot shooting streak as she scored in double figures for the fourth straight game and the sixth time in the last seven games with 14 points.

QUOTES

Chicago Sky Head Coach and General Manager Pokey Chatman

(On how injuries affected Chicago's rotations...)

"Obviously it affected it in terms of sheer numbers. Elena's (Delle Donne) the leading scorer, Tamera (Young) is a top defender. But that's part of the game, the injuries and the missing players. So we knew we would be without them, so we prepared as such. I don't think it was a big shock in terms of what we had to do out on the court. 88 points on the road, missing 22 is enough. Put them on the line 36 times. We didn't get 50/50 balls and that's it."

"I think Indiana's a team that plays a really fast pace. They didn't have to play that pace because we stopped the game and put them on the line...We had our chances to fold and we were down 12, we brought it back, my 6'7" [Imani Boyette] takes a long shot I didn't like. We gave ourselves an opportunity but then we just had some self-inflicted wounds that we couldn't recover from. We'll be better when the sun rises tomorrow and get ready for Connecticut on Sunday."

Chicago Sky Guard Cappie Pondexter | 22 points, 4 steals

(On missing players...)

"We're so versatile. Our team is really good in terms of us switching positions. A lot of us are very versatile. So that wasn't going to affect us. Of course we were short-handed. We had one of the league's best youngest players, best top defender in the league was out. So I mean, we were short-handed really good players. But I think the fact that we're deep allows us to be solid enough to win games. We were in it but a few self-inflicted mistakes that we could correct, we would have ourselves a ballgame. But unfortunately Indiana is a very good team at home and they capitalized on a lot of our mistakes and were able to get momentum."

Chicago Sky Forward Jessica Breland | 13 points, 9 rebounds

(On playing against Erlana Larkins and Lynetta Kizer...)

"Kizer and Larkins are good players, especially Erlana Larkins. She moves really well for her size, really an intelligent player in my opinion. It's kind of hard to box her out a little bit because she's strong, she's a strong girl. I think we did a pretty good job. I think they out rebounded us by four."

(On what the team needs to improve on moving forward...)

Team defense. Like Cappie [Pondexter] was saying, the last two games we played they really killed us behind the three-point line. We gotta really get out there and run them off the line and be disciplined."

Indiana Fever Head Coach Stephanie White

(On tonight's win...)

"I was happy we found a way to win tonight. I was happy we gutted it out. We found a way to win in crunch time. I love it when we have balanced scoring. We won the battle of the boards and we got to the free throw line. I was really proud of a gutty effort. Every win is big right now."

Score by Quarter

Chicago (15-15) 20 24 21 23 88

Indiana (15-15) 27 25 23 20 95

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