Fowles finding Sky to her liking

Having only recently figured out where Michigan Avenue and the Target nearest to her apartment is, Sylvia Fowles admitted that her knowledge of Chicago geography is still lacking.

But only to a point.

For instance, she did know that she was in the suburbs on Thursday night. And, if she can ever figure out how the expressways work, she may want to come back.

The locals welcomed the highly touted Sky rookie with open arms.

Fowles scored only 10 points and hit just 3-of-13 shots in the Sky's 84-68 exhibition loss to the Candace Parker-less Los Angeles Sparks, but the Sears Centre crowd of 2,215 -- the Sky's biggest crowd of the preseason -- didn't seem to care.

Many fans were excited just to see the 6-foot-6 Fowles, taken second (just behind Parker) by the Sky in the WNBA draft, up close and personal.

"I was anxious and rushing a lot and playing at a fast pace and not letting the game come to me," said Fowles, who also pulled down 9 rebounds in 17 minutes. "I guess there were a lot of jitters, just wanting to play hard."

Fans were hoping to see Fowles play against Parker, the former Naperville Central and Tennessee star who was taken first in the draft and has been hyped as possibly the best women's basketball player of all time.

But Parker didn't attend the game because she'd traveled back to Tennessee to attend her graduation, which was scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday.

The Sparks were trying to find a way for Parker to play in Chicago and also attend the ceremony but couldn't get a flight that would accommodate those plans.

The last time Fowles and Parker faced off was in April, when Tennessee defeated LSU in the NCAA tournament semifinals.

"I know how big this game was for the media and everything, but we were just looking forward to playing against the Sparks and nothing else," Fowles said. "Nothing against Candace. Yeah, she's a great player but you have (a lot of players on the Sparks) you have to worry about."

Veteran Brooke Wyckoff scored a team-high 12 points for the Sky, which will cut its roster to the final 13 players by May 16, a day before the first regular-season game.

The Sparks were led by star center Lisa Leslie, who scored 17 points in a head-to-head matchup with Fowles.

Sky miles: The Sky was playing without three players -- all of whom were thousands of miles away wrapping up their off-season basketball commitments.

Likely starters Candice Dupree and Dominique Canty faced each other in the Polish League championship game, with Dupree walking away with the title and the series' most valuable player award.

Meanwhile, Cathy Joens, who should be a key reserve for the Sky, finished up a solid campaign in Spain, where she was one of the top long-range shooters on her team.