The Chicago Sky performed with a objective on Thursday night time as they staved off the Dallas Wings for first win of the season, 97-92.
After beginning the yr 0-4, the Sky relieved themselves of that burden. They have been up in opposition to a crew in related standing to them: a younger crew trying to domesticate an id. The Sky mixed their veteran poise and youthful vitality to shoot successfully, defend the ball, play stable protection, crash the boards and handle the clock within the waning moments.
Chicago acquired off to a sizzling begin, main 29-19 after the primary quarter. They held onto the momentum by first half, up 49-43 on the break regardless of a resurgence by the Wings. Within the third quarter, the Wings got here again because of the exploits of Arike Ogunbowale, Paige Bueckers and DiJonai Carrington. They outscored the Sky 30-19 to guide 73-68. Ogunbowale, who completed with a game-high 37 factors, was carrying Dallas on her shoulders by scoring at will. Bueckers and Carrington every completed with 15 factors, with Bueckers including eight assists.
The back-and-forth battle commenced within the fourth quarter with no actual sense of who was in management. In the end, the Sky outscored the Wings 29-19 and made some key buckets down the stretch.
Angel Reese scored on a slicing layup to place the Sky up 93-92 with 1:21 left. Courtney Vandersloot drove to the opening and scored on a driving finger roll with 46 seconds to make it 95-92.
After a miss by Ogunbowale, Kamilla Cardoso grabbed the rebound and the Sky referred to as a timeout. With 32 seconds left, they moved the ball round and spaced the ground, with the ball discovering its approach into the palms of Ariel Atkins. Atkins pulled up and sunk the shot to place the Sky up 97-92 with 16 seconds left.
Poise and endurance within the closing seconds push the @chicagosky to a 97-92 win over the Wings
ALL FIVE gamers contact the ball, ending with a dagger from Ariel Atkins.
First win of the season secured for the Sky! pic.twitter.com/3OMsyBXwi9
— WNBA (@WNBA) Might 30, 2025
In all, the Sky completed the sport on a 16-8 run.
Although they shot 46.8 p.c from the sphere in comparison with the Wings’ 51.4 p.c, the Sky earned a substantial quantity of their factors within the paint, on the perimeter and on the free throw line. They shot a decent 41.1 p.c from past the arc and 76.5 p.c from the foul line.
Kamilla Cardoso completed with a career-high 23 factors and shot 69.2 p.c from the sphere. An enormous proportion of these factors got here within the paint. The Sky made it an intentional level to feed her the ball, with many saying the extra they get out of her the higher they are going to be.
She described Thursday’s efficiency because the epitome of Chicago Sky basketball. “It means quite a bit to us,”Cardoso stated. “I feel we have been hungry for a win and we have been lastly capable of come collectively and we performed just like the Chicago Sky at the moment and acquired that win.”
Ariel Atkins was all around the flooring at each ends. She completed with 17 factors, dished out six assists and grabbed eight rebounds. Atkins shot 50 p.c from the sphere and hit two 3-pointers.
Courtney Vandersloot not solely had 13 factors, however she additionally grew to become the Sky’s all-time main scorer with a pull-up jumper with 4:34 remaining within the third quarter. Vandersloot has 3,728 factors and 1,394 subject targets in her profession with the Sky, surpassing her spouse, Allie Quigley.
Past the file, she was extra glad with getting the win, saying after the sport:
It was a giant win for us. Huge night time throughout. I feel we got here in with this hyper focus realizing we’re gonna play them once more, simply eager to set the tone. Form of harped on it, make profitable performs, and we’re gonna proceed to do this.
Angel Reese was stable on the boards with 9 in whole. Although she struggled to attain, Reese put the Sky up by some extent twice with essential layups on the 4:18- and 1:21-minute marks within the fourth quarter.
Previous to the sport, Reese complimented head coach Tyler Marsh for creating area for her to broaden the scope of her recreation, explaining:
I feel for me its about endurance. Clearly, I haven’t performed this position since I used to be in highschool. I used to be the primary wing popping out of highschool. I wish to get again into that, being tremendous comfy. I do know that I nonetheless must get rebounds. There’s no approach I can’t get these rebounds as a result of I want to assist the crew. So me with the ability to do this, I feel he trusts in me and believes in me. I feel for me, I simply acquired to tone down the turnovers, simply with the ability to go it to my gamers and with the ability to get them the fitting go, get the shot, and never flip the ball over. He’s had a whole lot of endurance with me and when Courtney goes off the court docket, I can be capable of step up and be that time guard. So it’s been nice.
Chicago additionally acquired stable play from their bench. Rebecca Allen added 13 factors and 4 rebounds, together with three 3-pointers. Michaela Onyenwere shot 60 p.c from the sphere and scored seven factors. The Sky outscored the Wings 30-13 in bench factors.
