It was dicey throughout and went down to the final minute, but the Sky finally got their first win of the season Thursday.
They withstood a relentless offensive performance by the Wings to hold on for a 97-92 victory at Wintrust Arena. They were led, as they have been so many times, by veteran point guard Courtney Vandersloot on the night she set the franchise’s all-time scoring record.
The Sky were clinging to a 93-92 lead with a little over a minute left when Vandersloot drove left for a scoop layup that bounced in to give them some margin. After that, there was no way she was letting them lose again, saying later she was “desperate” for the win.
“That was all the emotions of the last few weeks and how much we’re really committed to this,” Vandersloot said. “It’s easy to lose four games and disconnect, but that isn’t the case for this team.”
Center Kamilla Cardoso played one of the best games of her young career, Angel Reese came up with crucial rebounds late and the Sky got the relatively balanced scoring effort that coach Tyler Marsh had envisioned but hadn’t materialized until now.
It was his first win as a head coach and it kept the Sky from setting a new franchise record for their worst start.
It was nearly another nightmare as their early 13-point lead disappeared in the third quarter while Wings star Arike Ogunbowale lit them up for 37 points, tying the most scored by a player in the WNBA this season.
Ogunbowale scored 14 of those on 6 of 7 shooting in the third quarter, and the Wings went ahead 92-91 with 2:11 left in the game on her sixth three-pointer.
The Sky had a quick answer for that, though. Reese grabbed a defensive rebound and pushed it ahead to Ariel Atkins, then they ran a perfect pick-and-roll ending with Reese finishing at the basket to recapture the lead.
Then came Vandersloot’s drive, and Atkins finished it with a running jumper with 16 seconds left to finally give the Sky something to celebrate.
Vandersloot finished with 13 points, nine assists and five steals. She pushed her career scoring total with the Sky to 3,728 points in 13 seasons, overtaking her wife Allie Quigley for the top spot.
“What means the most is my time spent here,” Vandersloot said. “It just speaks to the commitment that I made to the Chicago Sky and their commitment to me as well. They drafted me and let me develop. We had a lot of tough seasons. It wasn’t always easy.”
She got a roar from the crowd in the fourth quarter when the Sky announced that she broke the record.
Cardoso was steady throughout and scored a career-high 23 points on 9-for-13 shooting to go with eight rebounds.
“I played with confidence,” Cardoso said. “I finally saw the work that I put in during offseason translate to this game.”
The Sky also got 17 points from Atkins and 13 off the bench from Rebecca Allen.
For all the glamour of being the “Bayou Barbie,” Reese always says she is willing to do whatever dirty work is necessary to get a win, and she played that type of blue-collar game Thursday.
Reese finished with six points, nine rebounds and five assists, but her impact was far bigger than those statistics suggest.
“That’s who Angel is, in the best way,” Marsh said. “That’s what her skill set allows her to be. There’s so many different things she can do on the court that help a team win.”
The Sky had their best shooting game (46.8% from the field) and fewest turnovers (13) of the season.
They also navigated an explosive performance by the Wings that went beyond Ogunbowale’s big game. Rookie point guard Paige Bueckers made big plays late and finished with 15 points and eight assists.
