Why suburban native Allie Quigley was the first Sky player to have her jersey number retired
When Rachel Banham first met Allie Quigley, she had to address the obvious grievance. To guard Quigley was asking for a struggle laced with embarrassment, and that’s how Banham felt as she chased Quigley around the court, watching in vain as the now-retired Sky guard rained in her signature 3-pointers.
“The way she can shoot consistently every night,” Banham said. “I had to guard her. It was awful … It was so hard to guard her because she never stops moving. She never gets tired.”
“Just to be able to play at that high level all the time for that long is truly unbelievable,” she added.
After a 15-year WNBA career, including a decade in Chicago, Quigley’s No. 14 rose to the rafters Wednesday night at Wintrust Arena as the Sky’s first retired number. The Sky (6-13) hosts Minnesota (18-3) on Saturday (noon, ABC) at Wintrust Arena.
“In my 10 years here, I never took a free agency meeting,” Quigley said during the ceremony. “That’s how much this place means to me.”
A Joliet native and DePaul alum, Quigley bounced between four teams in five years after being selected in the second round by Seattle in 2008. Quigley’s early career featured multiple setbacks. The Storm waived her before her rookie season and again in 2011. She was out of the league in 2012 before signing a deal with the Sky and emerging as a key piece off the bench.
Quigley won two consecutive Sixth Player of Year Awards and was named an All-Star in three straight seasons before winning the franchise’s first title in 2021.
“There would be no Chicago Sky without Allie Quigley,” wife and Sky guard Courtney Vandersloot said.
For her career, Quigley averaged 10.9 points, 2 assists and 2 rebounds per game while shooting 45.2% from the floor. She holds a career 39.4% mark from beyond the arc and is the Sky’s all-time leader in made 3-pointers. Her four 3-point contest titles are a feat no player, WNBA or NBA, has broken.
In a video message played during the ceremony, former Sky coach James Wade said there’s two things everyone must see in slow-motion: Michael Jordan and Allie Quigley’s jumpshot.
The team’s latest star, Angel Reese, wants to add that shooting ability to her game and admires Quigley’s legacy.
“She’s obviously a great mom now,” Reese said. “Being a wife of (Vandersloot) is great to see. She’s done a lot of great things for the Sky and things that I want to do.”
Quigley may have been Banham’s on-court nemesis, but Banham, who joined Chicago last season after splitting the previous nine years between Minnesota and Connecticut, also views No. 14 as a role model. She’s looked up to Quigley throughout her career, and now playing in the same city, aims to find a similar career resurgence.
This season Banham is averaging a career-high 7.7 points a game and leads Chicago’s guards with a 38% 3-point mark.
“You want to be where you’re valued, and I feel that way here,” Banham said. “I feel like with Quigley, she’s found that in Chicago as well and where her game fits best. It’s fun to see how that worked out for her. There’s gonna be lows. There’s gonna be times when you get cut, you get moved, you get traded. So it’s cool to look up to somebody like that.”