Delle Donne’s Career High; Sky’s Season Low

June 7, 2014 @ admin → No Comments

Chicago Sky reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year Elena Delle Donne had a career-high 33 points Friday against the Los Angeles Sparks. The Sky defense had a season low by yielding a season-high point total in a 102-88 loss at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill.

A photo of Karen Kennedy. Just because we felt like running one.

The Sky entered the game having held opponents to 72.3 points per game and 39 percent shooting. The Sparks (3-3) shot 55.8 percent from the field. They had 19 fastbreak points and 56 points in the paint, which should paint a picture of how the Sky (5-2) played.

On the bright (?) side, the Sky did not blow a double-digit lead, as it has done in other games this season. In fact, the Sky didn’t blow a single-digit lead either. It fell behind 6-0 and never led. After that, the closest the Sky came was a five-point, first-quarter deficit.

The Sky did score the first six points of the second half to cut a 61-44 halftime deficit and closed to within 65-56 on two Delle Donne free throws, but L.A. went on an 11-2 run.

Speaking of free throws, Delle Donne did set a WNBA record for most foul shots without missing one in a game (16-of-16). Her 22 first-half points tied the franchise mark for most in a half.

“The only thing that matters is the score,” said Delle Donne, who was 8-of-16 from the field, including 1-of-3 three-pointers. “We just were not ourselves at all and we didn’t come out very strong. As a leader, I think about what I could have done, but the good thing about this league is we have a game tomorrow [Saturday at Atlanta] to right the wrong quickly.”

Tamera Young had 15 points for the Sky on 7-of-8 shooting and rookie Jamierra Faulkner scored 13.

“From the beginning, we let a really good team that had a couple losses, and came in hungry, allowing them to get back on track early, and we could never recover from it,” Sky coach Pokey Chatman said. “When you give up 100+ points at home, it’s a defensive breakdown that needs to be corrected quickly.”

Also needing correcting quickly are the 17 turnovers the Sky committed.

“I always credit the opposition,” Chatman said. “We played a hand in at least six of them [turnovers]. They are a great team.”

Apparently so with reigning WNBA Most Valuable Player Candace Parker coming off the bench. OK, the Chicago-area native did so because she suffered an ankle injury Tuesday. Parker had 17 points, reserve guard (and former Sky player) Kristi Toliver had 18 points, as did Nneka Ogwumike.

On a few occasions, Parker matched up against Delle Donne.

“She’s a great player, but I do know it’s really hard to do it by yourself,” Parker said. “We wanted to limit her free-throw shooting a little more than we did and then take everybody else away, and I think we did that and that’s why we were able to come out with the win.”

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