Sky’s Prince confirms surgery; out 6-8 weeks

Tweeting away while laid up with a bum foot, Epiphanny Prince announced via Twitter that she was scheduled for surgery Monday afternoon to repair a broken right foot.

The Chicago Sky guard and WNBA’s leading scorer said she will be out 6-8 weeks. The Sky later confirmed Prince suffered a Jones fracture in her right foot.

“We look forward to Piph making a full recovery,” Sky coach Pokey Chatman said. “She has had such a great start to the season; the injury is obviously very disappointing for her and for us.

“In the meantime, we have a resilient veteran team that will keep us moving forward until we’re back at full strength.”

Prince injured her foot Saturday in Indianapolis in the Sky’s Eastern Conference battle against the Indiana Fever. The injury happened about eight minutes into the game when Prince planted her foot and rolled it.

She left the game with 7 points and later returned to the bench with crutches.

The injury is a major blow to the Sky, off to its best start in franchise history at 7-2.

Prince was leading the WNBA in scoring with 24.3 points per game, and her amazing numbers and multiple 3-point buzzer-beaters over the previous two weeks had earned her two consecutive Eastern Conference player-of-the-week awards.

With Prince stringing together a record-tying three straight 30-plus-point games, the Sky entered the Indiana game in sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference. But a loss in that game pushed the Sky a half-game behind Connecticut.

The good news for the Sky, however, is that Prince’s injury happened in a good year. Starting July 14, the WNBA will break for one month to accommodate players participating in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

By the time the Sky plays its first game after the break, against Atlanta on Aug. 17, Prince will be nine weeks out from surgery. If she returns then, she will have missed only eight games.