WNBA: Repeated problems result in a second-straight Sky loss

Granted, the Chicago Sky are a developing team with Tyler Marsh in his first year as a head coach.

They trying to cultivate an identity while building for the long haul, with a roster the features emerging talent( Angel Reese, Kamilla Cardoso, Hailey Van Lith) and established veterans (Ariel Atkins, Elizabeth Williams, Rachel Banham). However, the season’s halfway mark is fast approaching, meaning it’s time to start seeing some tangible progress.

On Saturday, the Sky sought to redeem themselves against the Phoenix Mercury after losing to the Washington Mystics on Tuesday, when they gave up a 12-point lead.

Unfortunately, Chicago went through the same cycle of struggle. The first half showed some promise with a few scoring runs, better ball protection and competing on the boards. However, all that went off the rails in the second half, and the Sky found themselves in a bind they couldn’t get out of, losing 107-86. It’s the Sky’s ninth loss of the season, and their seventh by more than 20 points.

Here are the three factors that contributed to their downfall:

Turnovers continue to cloud the Sky

Failing to value the ball is a huge problem that effects the Sky’s offensive flow. Against the Mercury, they finished with 21 turnovers, which Phoenix turned into 32 points. Ariel Atkins led the team with five turnovers on Saturday. Overall, the Sky are leading the league in turnovers per game with 17.1.

The curse of the third quarter

The third quarter continues to be a period in which the Sky allow games to get beyond their reach. In their last loss to the Mercury on May 28, they led by 16 points before Phoenix cut it to four heading into the final quarter. On Tuesday, the Sky were outscored in the third quarter 24-12 by the Mystics.

At the start of the third quarter on Saturday, they gave up three-consecutive 3-pointers when they already trailed by 12 points. Those 3s by Kathryn Westbeld, former Sky player Kahleah Copper,and Monique Akoa Makani put the Mercury up by 21 points, and with under three minutes remaining in the quarter, the Sky trailed by 30 points.

A failure to guard the 3

The Mercury won primarily from the perimeter. They shot 47.1 percent from beyond the arc with guard Sami Whitcomb hitting five 3-pointers, leading Phoenix to a franchise-record 17 3s in a single game. At various points, the Sky left the perimeter open for shooters, especially in transition.

As bad as Chicago’s problems are, there were still shreds of goodness in their play, including:

Kamilla Cardoso’s prowess in the paint

Cardoso was dominant with the inside game. She finished with a team-high 17 points and three rebounds, while shooting 77.8 percent from the field.

The Sky have made it a point to give her the ball more often and utilize her skills and strength in the post and in transition. And her growth as an offensive player isn’t going unnoticed, especially by her head coach. After the game, Marsh said of Cardoso, “I think she asserted herself early today. She did a good job of being aggressive once the ball was into her and attacking before they could bring double teams and whatnot.”

Ariel Atkins’ sheer will

Though she did have a high number of turnovers, Atkins wore the veteran cape well as she commanded the offense. She finished with 13 points, four assists and two rebounds. Atkins also added two steals to her name as she was a ubiquitous presence on the defensive side of the ball.

Bench contributions

In the fourth quarter, none of the starters played, leaving the bench to finish the game out on a positive note. They did just that as they outscored the Mercury 28-15 in the final quarter.

Michaela Onyenwere led the bench by equalling Cardoso with 17 points. She also added two rebounds and two assists while shooting 66.7 percent from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from the foul line. Elizabeth Williams took the load off for Cardoso and Angel Reese with eight points and three rebounds. She also shot 66.7 percent from the field.

After the game, Williams spoke about her and Onyenwere’s readiness, sharing:

Being in the league this long, I feel pretty confident if I play five minutes, if I play 40 minutes. So coming in playing with effort, I think Michaela and I have done a good job and we’re going to take the momentum from the fourth quarter with all the players that were in and use that to continue to build moving forward.

Angel Reese’s growing game

During the game, Reese showed flashes of expanding the scope of her game. She finished with nine points, one of them being a 3-pointer that came in the third quarter. She also was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Though she finished with only two rebounds, she nonetheless stepped up in unfamiliar territory.

All in all, Marsh knows that things don’t look right, but he does think they deserve a fight. He emphasized:

I think that tonight, offense, outside of the turnovers when they pressured…wasn’t that much of an issue for us today. It was the defensive end. You can’t give up 107 points and expect to come out on the higher end of that. So usually an 86 point effort for us, that’s kind of where we would want to be. That’s a really good day for us offensively. But we got to reciprocate that on the defensive end. So obviously we want to cut down the turnovers. I think when you look at the positives, and being able to put 86 on the board with the amount of turnovers that we’ve had. There’s still light at the end of the tunnel.

From that standpoint, it’s just going back to a question earlier, with the consistency. One game, it’s our offense. One game, it’s our defense. So, finding opportunities to where both can kind of work hand in hand and be on the better side of it.