The Chicago Sky look to snap a three-game skid and exact a measure of revenge for an early-season loss to the Washington Mystics when the teams meet in the nation’s capital on Sunday afternoon.
The Sky (5-6) dropped double-digit decisions on the road to both the Los Angeles Sparks and Las Vegas Aces before falling 92-90 to the visiting Indiana Fever on Thursday.
Marina Mabrey erupted for a career-high 36 points on 14-for-22 shooting from the floor — including 6 of 11 from 3-point range. Mabrey, however, was left to lament what she perceived as a lackluster fourth-quarter performance.
“I can do a better job screening when they’re face-guarding me,” Mabrey said, per the Chicago Sun-Times. “So I can get people open rather than thinking to get open myself.”
Robyn Parks scored a career-high 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting after being inserted into the starting lineup in place of Kahleah Copper (personal).
“We didn’t win the game,” Sky coach/general manager James Wade said after seeing his team squander a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter. “When we coach, we coach to win the game. We don’t coach to get close because Kahleah’s not on the floor. There’s no victory in Kahleah not playing and us getting close.”
Mabrey had a team-high 19 points and Courtney Williams added 13 in Chicago’s 71-69 setback to Washington on May 26.
Elena Delle Donne scored 25 points in that game and added 17 on Friday as the Mystics posted their fifth win in seven outings with an 88-69 victory over the Phoenix Mercury.
Washington (6-4) shot 50 percent from the floor (32 of 64) and 42.3 percent from 3-point range (11 of 26) en route to recording its season-high point total.
“I felt like the group after the awful loss in Indiana had a focus in practice, a different one,” Delle Donne told the Washington Post. “So I felt like we’d come out strong, but sometimes you never know.”
Natasha Cloud (ankle) sat out Friday’s contest. She is considered day-to-day by coach Eric Thibault.
–Field Level Media