Toliver helps Sky close in on 1st playoff berth

A win, and the Chicago Sky is in. In the playoffs, that is.

For the first time in franchise history, the fourth-year Sky is on the brink of a spot in the WNBA playoffs, and no outside help is needed.

An impressive 86-79 victory over the Indiana Fever on Thursday night in front of 2,902 at the UIC Pavilion sealed the Sky's ability to control its own destiny.

Unlike previous seasons in which the Sky flirted with a playoff berth, no other teams need to lose games in order for the Sky to clinch. Now, all the Sky needs to do is win its regular season finale Saturday against visiting Detroit.

"It's not easy to go out and win when you have to," Sky coach Steven Key said. "Our team did a great job of going out against the league's top team and showing them that we're a playoff team."

Indiana entered the game tied with Phoenix for the best record in the WNBA. The Fever, which already had clinched the top playoff seed in the Eastern Conference, is 22-11.

The Sky improved to 16-17 in a tight race for the fourth and final playoff spot in the East that also involves Washington and Connecticut. But even if all three teams wind up with the same record, the Sky would earn the spot based on a series of tiebreakers.

"It's a huge deal for us to beat Indiana at this point in the season," said Sky forward Candice Dupree, who scored 15 points and pulled down a team-high 9 rebounds.

"Defense is what got it done for us. We boxed out. Katie Douglas (25 points) and (former Stevenson star) Tamika Catchings (16 points) are going to get their points. But besides them, we did a decent job of keeping everyone else from scoring a lot of points."

Reserve guard Shay Murphy, with 10 points, was the only other Indiana player to reach double figures.

Meanwhile, the Sky got double figures from four players. Mistie Bass matched Dupree with 15 points, Jia Perkins had 10 points, and rookie reserve guard Kristi Toliver sparked the offense with 19 points, including 3 invigorating 3-pointers.

All 3 came in the second quarter and cut a 10-point deficit to just a point. The Sky quickly gained the lead and never relinquished it.

"We picked it up when Kristi came in," Bass said. "She hit those 3-pointers, and that was the spark that woke us all up. We knew this game was really important. We were all on the same page today, and a lot of that was that we put defense first."