Sky Set Several Franchise, Personal Highs Against Wings In 104-89 Victory In Dallas
August 4, 2023 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Chicago Sky News Release
The Chicago Sky defeated the Dallas Wings 104-89, the Sky's second straight victory, in Dallas on Friday, Aug. 4. With the win, the Sky moved to 11-15 on the season, 8-5 against the Western Conference and 6-6 on the road. The victory marks the Sky's first win streak since the stretch from June 30 to July 2, where the Sky won three straight games (two against Los Angeles and one against Indiana)
The Sky saw a number of career and franchise highs in tonight's game, with Alanna Smith recording a career-high 20 points. Smith was just one of three Sky starters with 20+ points, as Kahleah Copper dropped 25 points and Courtney Williams poured in 25 points, six rebounds and six assists.
The Wings also saw a record-breaking performance, with Natasha Howard recording her first career triple-double (28 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists). Howard's triple-double is the eighth in the WNBA this season and the 27th in league history. Howard's previous season high for assists in a game was four and her previous career high was six; Howard had 11 assists in tonight's game. Satou Sabally added 18 points for the Wings.
Other highlights include:
Alanna Smith had a career high in field goals made in a single game with nine (Previous: eight, two times)
Elizabeth Williams passed Candace Parker (621) for 25th on the WNBA's all-time offensive rebounding list, finishing tonight's game with 622 career offensive rebounds
Courtney Williams knocked down a career-high five three-pointers made (Previous: four, four times)
The Sky knocked down a season-high 14 three-pointers (Previous: 13 made three-pointers on July 25 vs. Las Vegas)
NEXT UP: The Sky stay in Dallas for another matchup with the Wings on Sunday, Aug. 6. The Sunday matchup between the two teams will be the third of the season, with Chicago leading the season series 2-0. The Sky are 26-23 all time against the Wings.
KEY RUNS:
The Sky went on a 16-6 run from 8:24 to 3:52 in the first quarter
The Wings went on a 9-0 run from 0:29 in the first quarter to 9:11 in the second quarter
The Sky went on a quick 8-0 run that spanned 40 seconds, from 8:55 to 8:15, in the second quarter
Chicago ended the first half on a 13-4 run from 4:04 to 1:30 in the second quarter
The Sky went on a 14-6 run from 6:46 to 3:07 in the third quarter
The Sky went on another 14-6 run from 0:46 in the quarter to 5:21 in the fourth quarter
KEY STATS:
The Sky recorded three blocks in the first quarter
Chicago scored 32 points in the second quarter and had 58 by halftime
The Sky's 58 first-half points are a new season high (Previous: 57 in the first half of the July 30 game vs. Phoenix); The Sky have now set season highs for scoring in a half in back-to-back games
The Sky and the Wings combined to shoot 51.4% (73 of 142) from the floor and 47.7% (21 of 44) from downtown
Last game against the Mercury, the Sky shot 57.1% from three on 12 makes from downtown, the fifth-highest percentage from three in franchise history in a single game in which the team made 10 or more threes. Tonight, the Sky shot 58.3% from three on 14 makes from beyond the arc. That percentage is the highest three-point percentage the Sky have registered in a game that they hit 10 or more threes in this season and the fourth-highest percentage in such games in franchise history
Before the July 30 game against the Mercury, the Sky averaged 78.1 points per game. After dropping 104 points on 7/30 against the Mercury and 104 points in tonight's game, the Sky now average 80.1 points per game, increasing their points average by 3.0 in just two games
The Sky scored 28 points in the third quarter
The 208 points scored in the past two games combined are the most this season for the Sky. 208 points in the last two games combined are the most the Sky have scored in two straight games since they scored 214 points combined in a Sept. 1, 2019 game against the Mercury (105 points) and a Sept. 6, 2019 game against the Sun (109 points in overtime)
The 208 points scored in the last two games are the second-most in back-to-back games and franchise history and most ever in back-to-back regulation games
Having scored 104 in each of their last two games, this is the first time since that Sept. 2019 stretch that the Sky scored 100+ points in back-to-back games
This is the first time in franchise history that the Sky have dropped 100+ points in back-to-back regulation games (Non-overtime)
The Sky shot 55.1% from the floor (38 of 69), 58.3% from three (14 of 24) and 93.3% from the free-throw line (14 of 15)
This is the fourth time a team in WNBA history has finished with Chicago's shooting percentages or better and the only team to ever do so with 15 or more attempts from downtown (Across the Timeline)
Dallas ranks first in the league in rebounding per game with 39.9 rebounds per game but had 28 rebounds tonight
Dallas ranks first in the league in second chance points per game with 15.1 per game but had nine tonight
CHICAGO NOTES:
Kahleah Copper scored seven of the Sky's 26 points in the first quarter
Copper scored 11 of the Sky's 32 points in the second quarter
Copper reached 500 career made free throws
Copper tied Candice Dupree for fifth on the Sky's all-time free throw list with 459 made free throws
Alanna Smith scored nine of the Sky's 26 points in the first quarter
Smith's nine points in the first quarter tied her career high for points scored in a quarter (Had nine points in a quarter three times, most recently in the fourth quarter of a 6/30 matchup with Los Angeles)
Smith proceeded to tie that career high for points in a quarter again in the second
Smith's 18 points in the first half were a career high and were one point shy of her career high for points in a single game (19)
Copper and Smith combined for 36 of the Sky's 58 first half points
Fresh off scoring a career-high 14 points on 7/30 against the Mercury, Robyn Parks scored eight points off the bench in tonight's game
Courtney Williams accounted for 11 of the Sky's 28 points in the third quarter (seven points, four points created from assists)
Courtney Williams scored nine points in the fourth quarter
Courtney Williams and Copper are the sixth pair of teammates in WNBA history (and first in Sky franchise history) to each have 25+ points and 4+ made threes in the same game (Across the Timeline)
The Sky had four players finish the game scoring in double figures (Copper - 25, Smith - 20, C. Williams - 25, Mabrey - 16)
DALLAS NOTES:
Natasha Howard scored 11 of the Wings' 20 points in the first quarter
Howard's triple-double is the second for the Wings in 2023 (Satou Sabally had one on July 28)
Howard's triple-double is the third in Wings franchise history (joining Sabally and Deanna Nolan, the latter of whom did so on May 21, 2005) (Across the Timeline)
Howard is the third player in league history to have a 25+ point triple-double (joining Lisa Lesie (Sept. 9, 2004) and Sabrina Ionsecu (July 6, 2022)) (Across the Timeline)
Howard racked up four assists in the third quarter, accounting for eight points off those assists
Howard's four assists in the third quarter tied a career high for assists in a quarter (She had four assists in the third quarter of a June 10, 2022 matchup with Indiana as a member of the Liberty)
Howard accounted for 18 of Dallas' 19 points in the fourth quarter (eight points, 10 points created from assists)
Howard had four assists in the fourth quarter
Howard's previous season high for assists in a full game was four, which she accomplished twice. She had four assists each in two separate quarters in tonight's game
Entering tonight's game, Howard averaged 10.1 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 28 career games (17 starts, 21.9 minutes per game) but had 28 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists tonight
Teaira McCowan averages 8.7 rebounds per game against the Sky for her career but had just two tonight
Satou Sabally accounted for eight of the Wings' 20 points in the first quarter (four points, four points created from assists)
Sabally scored nine of the Wings' 22 points in the third quarter
In her first 11 career games against the Sky, Arike Ogunbowale averaged 24.2 points on an average of 8.4 made field goals per game. In tonight's game, Ogunbowale scored 11 points on four made field goals (16 attempts)
The Wings recorded nine steals
Women's National Basketball Association Stories from August 4, 2023
- Sky Set Several Franchise, Personal Highs Against Wings In 104-89 Victory In Dallas - Chicago Sky
- Four Fever Starters Score in Double Figures as Sun Pull Away from Indiana - Indiana Fever
- Wings Downed by Sky - Dallas Wings
- Connecticut Sun Convincingly Beat the Indiana Fever, 88-72 - Connecticut Sun
- Brittney Griner Update - Phoenix Mercury
- Atlanta Dream Reflect on Historic 10,000 Point Mark by Diana Taurasi - Atlanta Dream
- Parker Dominant in Loss to Phoenix Mercury - Atlanta Dream
- ABC Features Marquee WNBA Matchup on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET - Las Vegas Aces at New York Liberty - WNBA
- Diana Taurasi Sets Unprecedented Scoring Mark with 10,000th Career Point - Phoenix Mercury
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