After draining her first three-pointer of the season, Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese looked on in a bit of disbelieflike almost everyone inside Climate Pledge Arena on Friday night. chút không tin vào mắt mình giống như hầu hết mọi người có mặt tại Climate Pledge Arena vào đêm thứ sáu.
But after knocking down her second straight long-range shot from the top of the key, Reese held her follow-through for a moment as the ball splashed through the net before back pedaling down court.
It was that type of night for the Storm, who fell 88-84 to the Sky’s two-woman wrecking crew of Reese and Chennedy Carter.
“Angel plays with energy and confidence,” Storm forward Nneka Ogwumike said when asked about Reese’s three-pointers. “It’s not necessarily something that she’s known for, but she’s in the league. Everybody in this league is capable and she showed that today.
“She definitely demanded that respect with her outside shot tonight.”
Seattle, which had won eight in a row at home, lost for the first time at on its floor since the May 14 season opener.
The Storm (13-7) also had their four-game winning streak snapped, which began at the start of their nine-game home stand.
During the previous four games, Seattle enjoyed double-digit blowout wins while playing what coach Noelle Quinn described as “a beautiful brand of basketball.”
However, in front of a crowd of 10,725, which included Connecticut Huskies star Paige Bueckers, several dozens of Sky fans and many who wore Reese’s No. 5 jersey, there was nothing beautiful about the Storm’s defense that had difficulty corralling the fleet-footed Carter and slowing down Reese.
“She’s a tough matchup because she puts so much pressure at the rim,” Quinn said. “She’s very athletic. … When you contest with verticality, she’s still able to get to the penthouse and finish over you.”
Carter finished with 33 points, two shy of her career high which she set against the Storm four years ago, and Reese extended her WNBA single-season record for consecutive games with a double-double to 12 with a personal-best 27 points and 10 rebounds.
No other Sky player had more than nine points.
“She has elite quickness,” Quinn said about Carter. “There’s not a lot you can do. She’s not in ball screens so you can’t really trap her. She’s in a lot of isolations and getting downhill. Then her efficiency, 15 of 24, she didn’t miss a lot of shots because she’s getting two feet in the paint.
“I thought Angel Reese played well. She’s a dog. Her mentality is to be physical and to play harder than you. She’s playing with a lot of confidence. I don’t think we matched or exceeded that energy level.”
The Storm countered with a balanced attack led by Jordan Horston’s season-high 20 points.
Ogwumike added 16 points while Ezi Magbegor had 13 points, eight rebounds and a franchise-record tying eight blocks.
“It’s such assertive energy when Ezi takes those shots and swats them,” Ogwumike said. “It’s always surprising every time even though we know she’s capable of it. I’m just really glad to know we have her as the finisher or the closer on the defensive end.”
Jewell Loyd had 13 points, five assists and three steals while Skylar Diggins-Smith chipped in 12 points and nine assists.
Seattle led 42-40 at halftime and were outscored 30-22 in the third quarter while falling behind 70-64 to start the fourth.
Chicago built an 84-75 lead with 1:36 left when the Storm answered with a 7-0 run to close within two points.
Reese made a couple of free throws with 18.4 seconds left to seal the win for the Sky.
“We allowed a 30-point third quarter,” Ogwumike said. “That’s something that when you play a team like that, you just can’t do that. That’s tough right there. And of course toward the end we were able to make our push and yeah, the clock ran out.”
