Sky dig deep for win over Storm

Maybe the Chicago Sky should extend Taliyah Jackson's contract.

The 17-year-old Chicago native was signed to a one-day contract for Friday's game at Allstate Arena against the Seattle Storm.

Jackson is a patient at La Rabida Children's Hospital and suffers from Mitochondrial Encephalitis and Ataxia, which is a progressive degeneration of her brain, resulting in abnormal movements of the body's muscles, slowing her walking pace and speech.

It's Jackson's dream to be a professional basketball player, and she got to act like one with the Sky. She went to pregame shootaround and sat on the bench for the game.

And she inspired the Sky, which dug deep to pull out a 92-88 win over Seattle.

Sky forward Tamara Young says she was particularly influenced by Jackson. She scored a season- and game-high 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field.

"It just started this morning, having a new teammate and her energy and her inspiration made me more loose," Young said. "Normally, I'm nervous before games and it just kind of loosened us up having (Jackson) around.

"She had great energy at shootaround. She was clapping for us and she was excited to be there and it made us more loose and excited as well. Just having her energy around was a great feeling."

The Sky, which also got 22 points from forward Elena Delle Donne, was up by as many as 20 points but Seattle wouldn't go away. The Storm cut its deficit to 2 points (90-88) with just 34.1 seconds remaining.

But the Sky (14-13), fighting for a playoff spot, didn't buckle.

"(Securing a playoff spot) is on our minds," Sky coach Pokey Chatman said. "They are professionals, they want to win, they work hard and that's the sense of urgency. 'I want to win.'"

Guards Cappie Pondexter and Courtney Vandersloot added 13 and 11 points respectively for the Sky. Seattle (11-17) was led by former Niles West and Notre Dame star Jewell Loyd, who finished with 23 points.