Chicago Sky puts it on cruise control to sweep Fever

At one point during a second-half timeout huddle, Chicago Sky coach Pokey Chatman told her players, "I'm not going to make up things to tell you."

Chatman had no reason to complain, no reason to nitpick, and no reason to impart any helpful hints.

From start to finish Tuesday night, everything went swimmingly for the Sky, which was up by as many as 32 points and glided smoothly to a 106-82 victory over the Indiana Fever at the Allstate Arena.

The win moved the Sky to 13-8, giving the team a 4-0 series sweep of the Fever (11-9). It is the first time in its 10-year history that the Sky has swept the Fever.

"Within the first 2½ minutes of the game, we created opportunities defensively and married it to great offensive execution, first in transition," Chatman said. "We also did a great job of rebounding the basketball. We also finally dominated someone in the paint (48 paint points for the Sky to 22 points for Indiana). I was impressed with so many people playing a lot of minutes.

"It was a much-needed win against a good team on our home court."

The 106 points was a franchise record for the Sky, which got double figures out of six players, including three reserves.

Forward Elena Delle Donne led the way with 19 points, guard Cappie Pondexter had 16, and center Erika DeSouza had 10. Reserves Jamierra Faulkner, Tamera Young and Betnijah Laney added 16, 14 and 12 points, respectively.

"I appreciate games like this," said Laney, referring to the opportunity for the reserves to get extended minutes. "I'm just out there doing each and every thing I can do to help the team."

The Sky shot a blistering 63 percent from the field, hit five 3-pointers, had 28 assists on 43 baskets, outrebounded Indiana 39-29, rolled up 10 steals and tied a team record for blocks with 13, all while no starter played more than 23 minutes and every player dressed scored.

"So many things (that are positive)," Chatman said. "They'll enjoy this until breakfast tomorrow morning, and then we have the best team in our conference (New York Liberty) on Friday that we have to get ready for."

The Fever also gave its reserves extended playing time. Indiana was led by reserve guard Maggie Lucas with 14 points, while Natasha Howard came off the bench to score 13 points.

Starter Marissa Coleman also had 13 points for Indiana and Shenise Johnson added 11.

Former Stevenson High School star Tamika Catchings was held to just 6 points on 2-of-11 shooting.

Next game: New York Liberty at the Sky, 7:30 p.m. Friday.