WNBA Chicago Sky

Sky Falls to New York in Return Home

Published on June 30, 2015 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Chicago Sky News Release


ROSEMONT- After two consecutive road games, the Chicago Sky (5-5) returned to Allstate Arena on Tuesday night to host the New York Liberty (6-4) on ESPN2 for "Pride night." Despite 26 points and 13 rebounds from Delle Donne, the Sky was unable to overcome a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter as they fell 89-81 to the Liberty.

Tuesday's matchup marked the first time Chicago and New York faced off in the regular season since pulling off a blockbuster trade in February that brought guard Cappie Pondexter home to Chicago in exchange for Epiphanny Prince.

Delle Donne was aggressive early, scoring eight points to lead Chicago in the first quarter as the Sky and Liberty battled back-and-forth. New York fought back and narrowly led Chicago 27-25 after one. Liberty center Tina Charles set the tone for New York early going 6-for-9 from the field with 13 points in the first and the Liberty never looked back.

Charles' hot shooting continued as New York outscored Chicago 21-11 in the second quarter, pushing their lead to 48-36 at the half. The Sky responded in the third quarter, however, with an 13-5 run of their own, led by four points and two rebounds from Delle Donne, to pull back within two points (58-56) with 4:23 remaining in the quarter. Charles poured in nine points in the third quarter to help New York take a 73-61 lead heading into the fourth.

Despite a 10-point effort from Delle Donne in the fourth quarter, the Sky could not pull any closer than six points (83-77) as the Liberty escaped with an 89-81 victory at Allstate Arena.

"I don't think offense was the problem today, we were getting a lot of great looks that we generally knock down and they just weren't falling today," said Delle Donne. "Defensively, we would be right there and then give up something and they would be able to stop our run and go on their own run. That was the key."

Delle Donne led the Sky with 26 points and a game-high 13 rebounds to record her fifth double-double of the season. Courtney Vandersloot recorded her first double-double of the season as she added 14 points and a season-high 10 assists. Cappie Pondexter and Allie Quigley were the only other Sky players to reach double figures in points contributing 19 and 10 points respectively. Charles led New York with 26 points while Liberty rookie Kiah Stokes tied a career-high with 11 points along with 10 rebounds and Candice Wiggins added in a season-high 15 points.

The Sky will look to bounce back against the Connecticut Sun on July 2 at Mohegan Sun Arena. Tip-off is set for 6pm CT on WNBA LiveAccess.

Postgame Notes:

Chicago Sky 81, New York Liberty 89

NOTES

This game marked the first game for Chicago's Cappie Pondexter against her former team. Pondexter played for the New York Liberty from 2010-2014Elena Delle Donne went 10-for-10 from the free throw line, setting a new WNBA record for most consecutive made free throws in a season (58), breaking Lindsay Whalen's record of 54 in 2009Four different Sky players scored in double figures: Delle Donne (26), Pondexter (19), Vandersloot (14) and Quigley (10)Chicago committed a season-low eight turnoversDelle Donne scored 26 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, marking her fifth double-double of the season and her ninth 20+ scoring game of the seasonCourtney Vandersloot recorded her first double-double of the season, scoring 14 points and dishing out a season-high 10 assistsWith her 10 points tonight, Allie Quigley has scored in double figures in every game since she was inserted into the starting lineup on June 20th Tina Charles scored a season-high 26 points and made a season-high 10 field goals in tonight's contestKiah Stokes tied a career-high with 11 points and also added 10 rebounds in her second double-double of the seasonCandace Wiggins tallied season-highs in both points (15) and three-point makes (5). Wiggins went 5-for-5 (100%) from the three-point line. Entering tonight's game she was shooting 12.5% from behind the arc. New York snapped their 10-game losing streak against the Sky. Coming into tonight, the Liberty had not defeated Chicago since August 21, 2012.

QUOTES

Chicago Sky Head Coach and General Manager Pokey Chatman

(On where the Sky can look to improve...)

"It's difficult when you're giving up 91 points to have some success and I've talked about this for several games and we understand that we have to continue to get better at it because we exert so much energy making a comeback and making it a one-possession game. We just have to sustain some defensive consistency and then marry that to some rebounding so we can see the fruits of our labor with some players executing and moving the basketball around on offense."

(On the biggest challenges defensively...)

"I will say this: we did a better job. This is our team that we're talking about in terms of; we struggled with dribbling penetration early. It felt like the paint points were worse than what it was. Thirty-four to twenty eight, it's just, we didn't make them work for those paint points. Some were easy runs to the rim, bury us one pass, we had a couple defensive breakdowns, which, a few will happen in the course of a game. It just can't happen to the tune of 91. I will tell you this; I'm not that coach who won't give the opposition credit. I hate when people do that to me. They had a player that was shooting less than 10% knock down threes. I give them credit. We're going to always play those percentages."

(On adjusting to Candice Wiggins...)

"She hit the shots. She's, like I said, shooting less than 10% so you're playing the percentages as opposed to Tina [Charles] shooting from 90% in the paint and it just so happened that she hit a couple. We obviously went to some zone and made it a little bit uncomfortable for her. It's just that when we got those stops, on the other end, we didn't convert it into buckets for us."

(On how to improve bench production...)

"I don't always chart points with bench production for a lot of reasons. There are specific roles that people have but back to your point we need rebounding first. Points will come. If you get offensive rebounds and put backs, that's the best offense in the world. We'll start there. It's a matter of trusting that they're ready to contribute."

(On the intensity in the 3rd quarter and the 15-5 run New York went on)...

"It felt like 50-5 to me, to be quite honest with you. I told this to the players even in the first half when we were down 12: I liked our shot chart. We ran some stuff and we got some shots for the right people in the right spots and we had some comfort and we didn't make them I just wanted to make sure we would get them again but every single time they stepped up and they made a big play."

Chicago Sky Guard/ Forward Elena Delle Donne

(On defensive challenges...)

"It varies sometimes from game to game. We did a little better on dribble penetration today but then we just weren't rotating as quickly as we needed to out of double teams. I think that it's just communication and really starting to trust one another. When we do what the coaches draw up, it works, we get stops and we just have to be there and be able to communicate to one another so that we can trust in the defense. We need to do things hard and aggressively and not be questioning ourselves."

(On the team's offensive performance today...)

"I don't think offense was the problem today, we were getting a lot of great looks that we generally knock down and they just weren't falling today. Defensively, we would be right there and then give up something and they would be able to stop our run and go on their own run. That was the key."

Chicago Sky Point Guard Courtney Vandersloot

(On defensive changes...)

"I think defensive rebounding is huge for us. Sometimes, we'll have 19 seconds of really good defense and then give up "o boards" [offensive rebounds], put back, and 1. That just deflates you as a team and as a defense, and I think we need to start there."

(On the run early in the third quarter)...

"We came into halftime and discussed what adjustments we needed to make and a good start was important for us coming out of the half. Unfortunately it was deflated after a 15-5 run but to get within two in the third quarter - that's something positive we can take from this game. We just have to keep going and finish it from there."

New York Head Coach Bill Laimbeer

(On the Liberty's game plan...)

"We played good defense. We're a solid defensive ball club. We did a good job tonight, overall, I thought. Making them take tough contested shots. We didn't give them very many offensive rebounds, which is a big key for us. Ball movement on offense was especially important for us; we had 26 assists, that's a big unheard of number so we really moved the ball well."

(On the Liberty's strong shooting...)

"[The Sky] put us into a zone so we put some shooters in there and Candace [Wiggins] hit some big shots, Sugar [Rodgers] hit a couple big shots down the stretch but I thought our bigs inside really worked and passed well."

(On the Liberty's game plan against Elena Delle Donne...)

"Our plan was to make her work for everything. We were always in her space. I thought Kiah [Stokes] did a tremendous with her length; Stokes blocked two of [Delle Donne's] jump shots, which is unheard of for Delle Donne. I think the hard work we put into individually working and guarding her paid off tonight."

New York Center Kiah Stokes

(On guarding Elena Delle Donne...)

"A lot of it was just trying not to make anything easy for her. Obviously she's been having a great season so if I can make it difficult for her that's where I want to be. You know, I have pretty long arms so if I keep her in a set that helps keep her in front of me, she got by me a few times but as long as I can make it hard for her I think that's what my role is."

(On playing with Stokes and scoring under the basket...)

"When Tina [Charles] gets it and she's doubled, I can dive. There were times when I missed that and I could have had a few more baskets but in the end it's just getting used to playing with each other especially with Tina [Charles]. As long as I'm just moving when [Charles] gets doubled and finishing around the basket that's what I need to do."

New York Liberty Center Tina Charles

(On the keys and execution of tonight's game plan...)

"In the past two years this organization New York could never beat Chicago, so that was motivation. The keys were focusing on Elena Delle Donne; she's having a great year and she's off to a great start. Kiah Stokes, I'm really proud of her because she never wavered. She welcomed the challenge of guarding [Delle Donne] and just knowing if we contained her, we had a great chance of winning."

(On the team's rebounding motivation...)

"Keeping [Delle Donne] off the glass and not trying to give up any easy points. If we get the rebounds, we could start our transition and we could get easy buckets from that."

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