Chicago Sky gets big win over Minnesota Lynx

To be a playoff team next month, the Chicago Sky needs to be able to defeat playoff-caliber teams, especially at home.

The Sky made a good case for a postseason run Saturday night by powering its way to a 77-63 victory over the Minnesota Lynx, one of the best teams in the league and the defending WNBA champion, at Wintrust Arena in the South Loop.

"It just shows that when we put our minds to it and when we're focused and high energy that we can beat anyone in the league," said Sky guard Ally Quigley, who finished with a team-high 15 points on 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range. "We just have to use this as motivation to keep moving forward."

Quigley led a sharpshooting effort from 3-point range. As a team, the Sky scored 27 points off of shots from behind the arc at a spectacular 53 percent clip (9-of-17).

Overall, the Sky hit on 48 percent of its shots while holding Minnesota to a 36 percent clip. The Sky defense also limited former Sky center Sylvia Fowles, the reigning WNBA most valuable player, to just 9 points (13 rebounds).

"I'm really excited to go home and watch this film, and the main thing I'm excited about is our team defense, the way our team buckled down and played team defense," Sky coach Amber Stocks said.

Forward Maya Moore topped Minnesota, which drops to 11-8 after winning eight of its last 10, with a game-high 16 points. Seimone Augustus was the only other player to reach double figures for the Lynx. She had 11 points.

The Sky had only three players in double figures (point guard Courtney Vandersloot had 12 points and Gaby Williams had 10 points off the bench), but all 10 players who entered the game for the Sky scored, and the high shooting percentage is a testament to how well the offense flowed.

The Sky, which improves to 7-12 after 3 straight losses, also played team basketball, rolling up 22 assists on 30 made baskets.

"I think the ball movement was better, and we emphasized that going into the game," said Vandersloot, who is the leading playmaker in the WNBA (7.5 assists per game) and had 9 assists against the Lynx. "If we continue to move it, drive it, kick it, we can get wide-open shots and we can knock down those shots."