The Sky had a few storylines brewing long before the season even began. Like, did Courtney Vandersloot still have it in her 15th year? Well, we didn’t really get to find out as her season-ending injury cut that short. Then there was Tyler Marsh. Could he actually be the tactician Jeff Pagliocca hyped him up to be? The record hasn’t said a lot so far. But the real question? Could their sophomore class actually step up? And well, that answer is turning into a big, fat yes, even with all the ups and downs. Chicago went 7–17 without Angel Reese, and that stat told us everything.
And just to add to that notion…finally and we mean finally Sky just snagged a big win without Reese but Kamilla Cardoso as the offense’s centre piece.
We know that Angel Reese has been out for a bit now with a back issue. She’s missed four of their last five games, and Tuesday night’s matchup against the Mystics marked her third straight absence. But despite that six-game home skid (and eight losses in total) dragging them down, Chicago came in hungry and left happy.
It had been 21 days since their last win without Angel Reese, with the most recent loss in that stretch coming on July 16. Reese actually did return briefly against the Mystics on July 29, but re-aggravated that back injury during that game, which ended in yet another loss. Since then, she sat out the Mercury game on Sunday, and was out again for this one too.
Ariel Atkins returned and the offense finally clicked with Cardoso leading the charge at. A 78–64 win, four starters in double digits…that felt good.
Developing Story….
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