Sky shoots lights out in 92-80 win over Sun

Basketball is a much easier game when you're putting the ball in the basket nearly 70 percent of the time.

Just ask the Chicago Sky, which was on the flip side of that four days ago, missing nearly 70 percent of its shots in a loss to the Indiana Fever.

On Thursday, the Sky regained its shooting touch with authority and drained a franchise-record 68 percent of its shots in the first half against the Connecticut Sun.

The red-hot shooting translated into a 24-point halftime lead that paved the way for a 92-80 victory at Allstate Arena over the second-best team in the Eastern Conference.

The Sun is 10-6 after losing its second game to the Sky in 10 days.

The Sky, which received double figures from five players, has won three of its last four games to improve to 7-9. With two more games before the WNBA all-star break, the Sky could pull to .500 for just the second time this season with a pair of wins.

"Everybody came in hitting," said Sky reserve guard Erin Thorn, who did her part by hitting three 3-pointers en route to a 12-point output. "It makes everything a lot easier, defensively, offensively, everything comes a lot easier when you're hitting all those shots."

Sylvia Fowles set the tone with her efficiency in the paint.

She made good on 11 of her 14 shots and finished with a game-high 26 points. She also added 11 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.

"That (hot shooting) start was very, very big for us," Fowles said. "Just to have everyone focused and on the same page felt good."

But it wasn't just the offense that was on the same page.

The Sky defense also came to play from the opening tip, forcing the Sun into 15 turnovers and dozens of ill-advised and rushed shots, especially early on.

On top of that, the Sky completely shut down one of the best post players in the league in Tina Charles.

Charles, just a rookie, is off to a monster start in her WNBA career.

She came into the game averaging 16 points and a league-leading 12.5 rebounds per game. And Tuesday in Tulsa, she had posted her sixth straight double-double, one shy of the WNBA record.

But against the Sky, Charles was held to just 5 points and 6 rebounds, most of which came in the fourth quarter when the game was all but decided. At halftime, Charles had 1 point and 1 rebound.

"She's a powerhouse and if you let her get going, everyone else for them is going to get going," said Fowles, who shared much of the guarding of Charles with reserve Mistie Bass.

"That's an excellent team right there and we did an outstanding job (defensively)," Sky coach Steven Key said. "Our best defensive effort of the season was when we were in Connecticut last time and I think we trumped that tonight."

Forward Tamera Young trumped her previous best efforts by scoring a season-high 15 points. Her shooting (5-for-7) was big reason the Sky got off to such a hot start.

Bass scored a season high with 13 points and Jia Perkins contributed 11.

Sandrine Gruda led the Sun, which never held a lead, with 17 points.