The Chicago Sky now sit at .500 with a 5-5 record and reside at 7th in the WNBA rankings after going 1-2 over the last week. 

They also added reinforcements to the roster in the form of two players prior to the West Coast trip.

The Sky signed forward Taylor Soule and center Khaalia Hillsman to hardship contracts on Friday before the Los Angeles Sparks game, where they both saw some time on the court. 

Soule was originally drafted by the Minnesota Lynx in the 2023 WNBA Draft but was released before the regular season. Hillsman, the Chicago native and Whitney Young grad, was on a training camp contract with the Connecticut Sun before being waived at the roster deadline.

Chicago has four days off before their next game where they have a rematch against the Indiana Fever at home on Thursday.

Overtime record-setter

The Chicago Sky kept momentum rolling after their win against New York with an overtime victory over the Indiana Fever on Tuesday, 108-103. The Sky’s 108 points is the highest total by a WNBA team this season.

Four players accounted for 90 of the Sky’s 108 points, including guard Dana Evans putting up a season-high 20 points with 9 of them coming in overtime to help seal the win.

“She changed the game when she came in in the first half,” James Wade said after the game. “I didn’t feel like we had the pressure on the ball that we needed. When Dana came in, our level rose and that’s what she’s done for us every game this game. She’s a big part of our identity and why we’re able to play the way we’re able to play.”

Evans became just the second player in WNBA history with 20+ points, 7+ assists and 0 turnovers off the bench while shooting 50% from the field and 60% from the arc.

West Coast woes

Chicago’s first stop in Los Angeles ended in a 77-66 loss with Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike causing all types of problems for the Sky on Friday.

The Sky fought from behind most of the game, but the shots just wouldn’t fall. Coming into the game, Chicago was the best 3-point shooting team in the WNBA; they shot just 17.3% (4-23) from the arc against the Sparks, their lowest of the season.

“I think it was just an off shooting night,” Alanna Smith said after the game. “We got open shots. I know I got a lot of open shots that I missed. I think we moved the ball pretty good. Just wasn’t our night from the 3-point line, and that happens to every team that plays basketball.”

Chicago took a short trip to Las Vegas on Sunday to take on the No. 1 team in the WNBA in the Aces and face off against former Sky player Candace Parker for the first time this season. Las Vegas never let go of the lead and sent the Sky home with a 93-80 loss.

Turnovers continued to be an issue and the Aces made them pay, scoring 23 points off of just 13 Sky turnovers. However, the Sky did end the game on an 18-2 run to cut into the Aces lead.

“It starts with me. I had 5 [turnovers],” Kahleah Copper said after the game. “We got to get our spacing down, and we got to play pass-and-catch with each other. We need to lock in on making quicker decisions, too.”

“The fact that we played 4 games in 8 days and now we have 4 games over 2 weeks, it gives us some practice time to kind of get some players more involved. We learned a lot about our group,” Wade said.

Stats and notes:

• Dana Evans reached 20 career steals vs. Indiana
• Elizabeth Williams reached 200 career steals vs. Los Angeles
• Kahleah Copper passed Epiphany Prince and moved up to No. 5 on the Sky’s all-time scoring list with 2,138 vs. Las Vegas
• Taylor Soule scored her first career points at the free throw line vs. Las Vegas