Sky's latest loss frustrating
There are bad words, and there are words that are just so vile that Erin Thorn practically needs to cover her ears when she hears them.
“Potential, chances,” said Thorn, the Chicago Sky's veteran shooting guard. “We can't keep saying words like that. I hate those words. I hate it that we keep saying that we have potential, that we had chances. Those are bad words.
“We need to put it all into action. We need to talk the talk and walk the walk.”
The Sky is still trying to find its stride in that area. A lack of consistency has hurt. The Sky, which won three straight games earlier this month, has dropped three of the last four, including Tuesday's showdown with the best team in the WNBA.
The San Antonio Silver Stars rallied from a 7-point second-half deficit and outscored the Sky by 13 points in the fourth quarter to pull out an 84-74 victory over the Sky at Allstate Arena. That moved the Silver Stars, who received a team-high 19 points from Sophia Young, to 7-1. It's the best record in the WNBA and the best start in the 15-year history of the franchise.
The Sky, which got double-figures from four players, including a team-high 19 points from guard Epiphanny Prince, dropped to 4-5 after a suffering a soft fourth quarter similar to that against the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday.
“At the end of the day, we had the opportunity to — again — make a statement with a very good team,” first-year Sky coach Pokey Chatman said. “And we didn't get it done.”
The Sky had a 5-point lead two minutes into the fourth quarter, but three 3-pointers over a three-minute stretch by Danielle Adams (16 points), former Notre Dame star Ruth Riley and Becky Hammon (14 points) gave the Silver Stars a 6-point lead with about four minutes left that it would never relinquish.
“It's our defensive scheme,” explained Sky center Sylvia Fowles, who scored 16 points, pulled down 12 rebounds and blocked 4 shots. “We do it the whole game, we guard people the way we're supposed to guard people and then the fourth quarter gets here and we just get away from it.
“I don't know what it is, but whatever it is, we've got to figure it out because I don't want to get used to that whole losing thing all over again.”
The Sky, which is gunning for its first playoff berth in franchise history, is below .500 for the first time this season since dropping its opener against the Indiana Fever in Indianapolis.
Frustration is setting in — but discouragement is not.
“It is frustrating,” said Thorn, who had her best game of the season with 14 points, including two 3-pointers. “But we try to find bright spots out of the negatives. We can play well, we did in the third quarter against Phoenix and again today but just came out flat in the fourth. We've just missed some opportunities.”