Sky's 26-0 run makes the Sun go away

There was basket after basket, and defensive stop after defensive stop.

It was all a bit much for Chicago Sky forward Candice Dupree to take in.

"I was kind of in awe," Dupree said.

Indeed, a 26-0 run isn't an everyday occurrence for the Sky. In fact, the Sky's 26-0, second-quarter run against the Connecticut Sun on Saturday night was a franchise record, one that paved the way for a breezy 84-72 victory in front of 3,071 at the UIC Pavilion.

The win made it two in a row and moved the Sky (10-10) into third place in the Eastern Conference. The Sky, which led by as many as 27 points, also won its regular-season series (2-1) against the Sun, which dropped to fourth place in the East at 9-9.

"We just picked it up defensively," said Dupree, who pumped in a game-high 23 points, 20 of which came in the first half. "We also had great ball movement offensively and we got wide-open shots. We were aggressive on both ends of the floor."

And to think the Sky did it all without starting center Sylvia Fowles, who played less than 10 minutes of the game. She got an elbow to the head near her eye with 6:11 left in the second quarter. At the time the Sun owned a 26-22 lead.

"See my third eye," Fowles joked during the postgame news conference as she pointed to the swollen knot between her eyes. "It still hurts."

Little did Fowles know that when she went out for good her teammates were about to put a major hurt on the Sun.

The Sky scored the next 24 straight points. Reserve forward Shyra Ely, who came up huge with 16 points in Wednesday's victory over Candace Parker and the Los Angeles Spark, played a big part in the run.

She scored all 10 of her points during the five-plus-minute stretch.

"I just want to make the most of my minutes," Ely said. "(The run) was a lot of fun. It's definitely fun when your team is clicking on all cylinders and you can get the 'W,' too.

"That's the most important thing, that we get those wins."

The Sky, which had just 8 turnovers for the game, also got 16 points from Jia Perkins and 11 from both Dominique Canty and reserve guard Erin Thorn.

Reserve guard Tan White paced Connecticut with 16 points.