Sky rallies from 25 points down to win
Instead of thundersticks, the Chicago Sky might want to pass out brown paper bags and gray hair touch-up kits to its fans as they walk through the doors at the Allstate Arena.
Watching the Sky has induced some anxiety and stress lately.
For the second game in a row, the Sky chipped away at a double-digit, second-half deficit and somehow came out on the winning end.
On Sunday, the Sky, down 15-0 to start the game thanks to turnovers and cold shooting, erased what had ballooned to as much as a 25-point deficit and got an 89-78 victory over the visiting Connecticut Sun.
That came after Thursday's win in Seattle in which the Sky came from 16 down in the second half. In that game, the Sky outscored Seattle 32-6 in the fourth quarter.
Still sitting in first place in the Eastern Conference, the Sky, playing its second straight game without leading scorer Elena Delle Donne (foot sprain), is 17-8 and has won its most games in a season in franchise history.
“I'm pretty sure somebody past 60 at home almost caught a heart attack,” said a playful Sylvia Fowles, who was huge in the clutch and finished with 20 points and 21 rebounds. “Sorry about the high blood pressure and hypertension, ladies and gentlemen.
“You hate to start off that way, but to come out with the heart that we had and to go out and play as a unit, it showed a lot on the floor. Our team showed a lot of character tonight.”
Fowles became the first player in WNBA history to record two 20-20 games in one season. She had 24 points and 22 rebounds against the Sun on May 31.
The heroics went well beyond “Big Syl,” though.
Guard Epiphanny Prince came alive in the fourth quarter with 2 big steals and some drives to the basket that put the game within reach. She finished with a game-high 21 points. Meanwhile, reserve guard Shay Murphy picked the perfect time to emerge from her shooting slump. Murphy had missed her previous 17 attempts from 3-point range, but she hit 2 big 3-pointers against the Sun and finished with 15 points.
The Sky also got 17 points and 6 assists out of point guard Courtney Vandersloot.
“It (personal shooting slump) has been tough and after awhile you start to doubt yourself,” Murphy said. “I'm just super grateful that tonight they finally went down.
“It felt so good that I wanted to dance. I'm glad it happened at the right time and we were able to capitalize on it.”
“We're always going to fight like that. But we need to stop putting ourselves in these situations so (head coach) Pokey (Chatman) doesn't have a heart attack and fans won't faint.”
As it turns out, Chatman didn't need a medic, and she tried to see the bright side in the latest comeback victory.
“There are positive things you can take from this, and the bottom line is that you've got to win and we did,” Chatman said. “They showed some toughness, and we talk about that when you're down.
“But we hope this is the last time we have to talk about it.”
The Sun, which dropped to 7-17 and has the worst record in the WNBA, got a team-high 16 points from guard Tan White.
pbabcock@dailyherald.com