Delle Donne, Sky win playoff opener

It wasn't quite the typical MVP performance for the WNBA's newly crowned most valuable player.

But Chicago Sky forward Elena Delle Donne hardly seemed to care.

"We won. That's all that matters," Delle Donne said Thursday night at the UIC Pavilion. "If I have zero points, zero rebounds and we come out with a 'W," that's all I care about."

Of course, Delle Donne's stat line wasn't that shockingly subpar.

She did have a double-double (14 points, 11 rebounds) in a 77-72 win over the Indiana Fever in Game 1 of the best-of-three Eastern Conference semifinals. But she struggled occasionally to find her shot, hitting just 5-of-15 from the field and just 1-of-4 from 3-point range.

Delle Donne, who leads the WNBA in scoring at 23.4 points per game, was named the MVP of the WNBA on Wednesday.

"Clearly, this team is why I won the MVP this year," Delle Donne said. "That showed out there and it will continue to show throughout the playoffs."

Delle Donne got some much-needed support from Miss Support herself, reserve guard Allie Quigley. For the second year in a row, Quigley was named the WNBA's Sixth Woman of the Year. She received her award prior to the game, and she promptly backed that up by coming off the bench to score 22 points on 3-of-4 three-pointers. She also had 5 assists.

Meanwhile, starting point guard Courtney Vandersloot added 17 points and 5 assists.

"One of the things about Chicago is that you think, 'Well, we need to give two (defenders) to Delle Donne. But then you've got (Vandersloot) and Quigley running wild," Indiana coach Stephanie White said. "There's a reason (Chicago) is in the position it's in. We have to pick our poison. Tonight it was Sloot and Quigley. They single-handedly accounted for 61 points if you include their assists. I mean, they just kicked our (butt), and they're great guards."

Quigley hit several big second-half shots to bail out a sometimes stymied Sky offense.

"It was just rolling," said Quigley, the former DePaul star who is a native of Joliet. "You just got to be aggressive and let everything you've been practicing just take over."

Forward Jessica Breland added 12 points and 9 rebounds for the Sky while former Stevenson star Tamika Catchings led Indiana, which had several small leads in the final minutes, with 21 points.

The Sky is now 5-0 against Indiana this season.

"It's huge (to finish off Indiana in Game 2 Saturday in Indianapolis)," Delle Donne said. "Last year, we went to 3 games (in both Eastern Conference series) and that wears you out a little bit. It's crucial to finish out strong and to finish out on their home court. That would be really big for us."