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You might say Sylvia Fowles was incredible. Or you might say she left her opponent Wednesday green with envy. What you definitely can say is Fowles was the dominant force in the Chicago Sky’s 89-85 victory over the Washington Mystics at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill.
Sky forward Swin Cash had 13 points and considerably more clothes on Wednesday. Here she is in the 2013 ESPN the Magazine Body Issue.
Fowles had a game-high 26 points and a game-high 18 rebounds (10 of the offensive variety). The Sky broke an 85-85 tie on an Epiphanny Prince jump shot with 38.3 seconds left and a pair of Elena Delle Donne free throws with 4.2 remaining to secure the victory.
“Honestly, I didn’t even know the score was tied when we sat down on the bench,” Fowles said. “But when I sat down and I see that it was a tied game, I just tried to stay poised and relaxed and the play that coach called up for Piph I knew she was going to knock it down. We have confidence in her because she do it every day at practice.”
On a day — with a Sky record crowd of 14,201 (mostly youngsters attending as part of a camp day promotion) — when standout rookie Delle Donne struggled (5-of-19 from the field, including 0-for-5 on three-point attempts) to score 18 points, Fowles went 12-for-17 from the field to help the Sky improve to 9-4 overall and 6-1 at home.
“She was huge, she was a beast, and she was in beast mode,” Sky coach Pokey Chatman said. “She was getting her ankle rehabbed the other day, and she had this green toe nail polish on. And I said, ‘Does that mean you are going to be The Hulk?’ And I joked about it because she has really done an impeccable job of getting herself back to play [from a sprained ankle]. I mean she has been rehabbing 2-3 times a day in the swimming pool just hours on top of hours just to have an opportunity to be ready. She was an animal.”
“Well, she got 10 offensive rebounds, and I think that kept them going when they had lost the momentum,” Mystics coach Mike Thibault said. “We were playing well and then she would get an offensive rebound or pick one up off the floor and she made big shots. She was clearly the difference in the game today. We had one stretch when I thought we matched her, but overall she was a beast in the lane today.”
And Prince hit the winning basket from outside.
“It’s one of those things where Elena draws a lot of attention, Sylvia is having a huge game, so we use E [Delle Donne] as a decoy on the baseline to kind of get the defense shifted a little bit, and I trust Piph. She is a scorer.”
As is Delle Donne, who also is a passer (five assists to Courtney Vandersloot’s team-high six). Prince finished with 15 points and Swin Cash 13.
“I never feel like she is struggling, and let me tell you why,” Chatman said of Delle Donne. “First of all, I expect her to make every shot. When her body language is good and when she is on the floor, we can still play off of her. And she’s a 90 percent free throw shooter.”
Some postgame videos for your perusal:
Here’s one of the guests on the July 11 “Sports & Torts.” Hint: It is not former Bears star Richard Dent.
Reliable sources say today is Thursday (provided that you are reading this today, June 11, 2013, or a subsequent Thursday). Mainly because yesterday was Wednesday. Seems reasonable.
Of course, what this means is that it is time for another edition of “Sports & Torts” at noon Central time on Talkzone.com with co-hosts David Spada and Elliott Harris. The highly acclaimed interview show (well, it does reach that level of adulation in the Spada and Harris households)
The guests for June 11 are Pro Football Hall of Famer Richard Dent whose greatest success came with the Chicago Bears and July 2013 Playboy Playmate Alyssa Arce whose greatest sports success came on the soccer field (not that everyone in the audience is particularly concerned about that).
For those who are unable to tune in for the live airing, Talkzone will have a podcast of the show available later in the day Thursday.
And here is where we go for our daily dose of non-gratuitous video (thanks to the efforts of the editorial and video departments at elliottharris.com and their generous definition of “gratuitous”):
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