Mid-term Sky report: Better, but plenty of room for improvement

Time really flies when you're not waiting around for LeBron James to make a decision about his future.

Take the WNBA season. It's already half over. The league's all-star game will be played today (2:30 p.m., ESPN) at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut.

Here's a quick, mid-term analysis of the Chicago Sky, which won four of its last six games before the break, is currently 8-10 and needs a strong finish to earn its first playoff berth in franchise history.

Good: Epiphanny Prince.She's been as good as advertised. Often better.Rookie guard Epiphanny Prince has gotten off to a very impressive start in her WNBA career.Two years ago, she was one of the best college basketball players in America. Last winter, she made the decision to forego her final season at Rutgers so that she could go overseas and earn a paycheck that could help her struggling family back in New York City.Playing against pros before even getting to the WNBA clearly helped to make Prince's transition here smoother.Prince is one of the first players off the Sky bench and is an instant spark offensively and defensively.Over nearly 20 minutes a game, she averages 9.6 points per game, third-best on the team. She also ranks second in steals with 1.7 per game and is tied for second with Jia Perkins with 2.6 assists per game.Better: The Bench.Prince gets a mention here, too.The Sky bench has been a strength all season, and is a big reason the Sky is nearly .500 at the break.Of the 12 teams in the WNBA, the Sky ranks fourth in bench scoring average with 5.6 points per player.Prince has been the most effective, but sharpshooter Erin Thorn and forwards Tamera Young and Mistie Bass, both of whom have started a handful of games, play valuable roles, too.Thorn has a knack for hitting clutch shots from downtown, Young gives an instant spark on defense and Bass is a blue-collar worker who does the dirty work on the boards.Best: Sylvia Fowles.After two years of struggling with injuries here and there, Sylvia Fowles has been perfectly healthy all season. Which has made other teams sick.Fowles is having an MVP-type season, averaging 19.3 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, both of which rank fifth-best in the league. She also leads the WNBA in blocks (2.8 per game) and is second with a 61 percent field goal percentage.Fowles is still young and sometimes hesitant from a leadership standpoint, but she is getting better and better at putting this team on her shoulders when necessary.Needs work: Rebounding.This team drives me crazy with its rebounding woes.All but three teams in the league rebound better.At least a few games already this season have been lost simply because the Sky hasn't boxed out at every position to prevent the opposition from getting multiple chances at the basket.Good rebounding is mostly heart and hustle. The Sky needs more of both to be not only a better rebounding team but also a serious contender for a playoff spot. The two go hand in hand.Incomplete: Poor Shameka Christon, who should be starting at small forward for the Sky.She got accidentally elbowed in the head by Fowles earlier this season and has missed the last eight games while recovering from a fractured orbital socket, a concussion and a scratched cornea. She had surgery this week to alleviate problems with her vision that weren't improving.She'll be out at least another four weeks, which is disappointing for the Sky.Christon was a centerpiece player in a multi-team off-season trade that brought her in from New York and sent former Sky star Candice Dupree to Phoenix. She was New York's leading scorer last year and was supposed to give the Sky an instant scoring boost on the perimeter.She had barely settled in before she got hurt.Final review: It's Year Five for the Sky and the goal is still earning that first playoff berth in franchise history. The Eastern Conference is tough but luckily for the Sky, the upcoming schedule is favorable with eight of the next 12 games against Western Conference teams. Besides Seattle, which the Sky has already beaten, no team in the West is better than .500 or has more than 7 total wins. The Sky is in a great position to stockpile some wins and make a serious playoff push. Rebounding better and getting Christon back for the stretch run will make that goal easier to reach.pbabcock@dailyherald.com