Sports
Chicago Sky Beat Indiana, Snaps Losing Streak
The Chicago Sky welcomed back Candace Parker and beat the Indiana Fever to end their 7 game skid.
Wednesday night was a time of celebration in SkyTown. The Chicago Sky snapped their seven game losing streak, their longest since 2012, and Chicago-area native Candace Parker finally made her much-anticipated Chicago debut wearing a Sky jersey.
After winning the first two games of the season, the Sky went into a downward spiral that included five straight home losses. The Sky's 2-7 record was the second worst in the WNBA, ahead of only the 1-9 Indiana Fever. Fortunately, the Fever brought their league-worst record to Wintrust Arena for the first of a home-and-home two game series with the Sky.
The Sky jumped out to a 25-12 lead by the end of the first quarter. Over the next two quarters, the Fever was able to shave off two points from the deficit, making it 69-58 heading into the fourth quarter. This is where thing have fallen apart in some losses, but not this game. The Sky outscored the Fever by five in the last quarter to take the 92-76 win.
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As for Parker, her start was only her second game of the season. She played 17 minutes, scored three points, grabbed 5 rebounds, had two assists, a steal and a block. While Parker wasn't the difference-maker in the game, everyone was ecstatic to have her back on the court.
Courtney Vandersloot led the Sky with 17 points and nine assists. Stefanie Dolson and Azura Stevens had 12 points each and Kahleah Copper had 11 points to round out the double-digit scorers. Ten Sky players got in the scoring column and nine has assists and rebounds, in a well-balanced overall stat sheet. The team stats were fairly even.
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The story of this game for the Sky was consistency. In recent losses, the Sky had several swings, both good and bad, throughout the game, ending with bad streaks. This game, the Sky started strong, kept pace throughout the middle and finished solidly.
The two teams will do it again on Saturday, this time in Indianapolis. As good as it was for the Sky to get back in the win column, it is important for them to win again on Saturday. The Sky need to further distance themselves from Indiana and to start climbing back into the contenders area of the standings.
