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NEW YORK – (AP) – The Chicago Sky is at full strength and advancing in the WNBA rating after injuries got them off to a slow start.
Chicago (7: 7) won five in a row before the street game on Tuesday evening in New York. It is no accident that the return of Candace Parker and Allie Quigley has boosted this winning streak.
Parker missed seven games with an ankle injury sustained while shooting, while Quigley was out with a hamstring problem. Stefanie Dolson also missed a few games while helping the US qualify for the 3×3 in the Olympics.
Now that everyone is back, Sky has consistently won.
“We got our loot back,” said top scorer Kahleah Copper. “We’re not on the pitch so as not to lose. We go out hard and we know we can win this game. “
Chicago has used a balanced offense this season with six players averaging double digits.
The Sky will be tested with a five-game road trip, starting with two against the Liberty. The trip started unhappily with a five hour travel delay to New York on Monday.
Spurred on by the winning streak, Sky climbed from 10th place in the AP Power poll to third place this week.
POWER SURVEY
This week’s WNBA poll:
1. Seattle (12-2): The Storm finished an unbeaten street sweep of five games with two wins in Indiana. You click on both attack and defense.
2. Las Vegas (10-3): The Aces are well on their way to averaging over 90 points per game for the first time since Phoenix in 2010. Las Vegas (91.2 points) has already scored 100 or more points four times this season.
3. Chicago (7-7): Courtney Vandersloot averages 12.1 points and a WNBA best 8.5 assists. She’s a big part of why Sky shares the ball so well with 19.9 assists per game – fourth best in the league.
4. Connecticut (8-5): The Sun welcomes coach Curt Miller, who missed a few games after suffering a stroke, to be with his mother. Connecticut is still missing Jonquel Jones, who plays for Bosnia and Herzegovina at the FIBA European Championship.
5. New York (7-6): The Liberty went 2-2 on a swing on the west coast, welcoming Sabrina Ionescu’s return from an ankle problem.
6. Washington (6-6): The Mystics keep losing players to injuries but find ways to win. Theresa Plaisance rose last week with an average of 20.5 points, 9 rebounds and 3.5 assists to help Mystics to a 2-0. The Mystics lost Myisha Hines-Allen and Natasha Cloud to injury. Washington signed former AP college player of the year Megan Gustafson on Sunday with a hardship exemption.
7. Dallas (6-7): Marina Mabrey had the best 28 points of her career in a win against Minnesota on Saturday. She has averaged 16.5 points and 5.2 rebounds this season.
8. Phoenix (6-7): Diana Taurasi hopes to come back from a fractured sternum when the Mercury play Los Angeles on Sunday. She has only played four games this season, averaging 15.8 points, 3.8 assists and 3.5 rebounds
9. Minnesota (5-7): Since winning three in a row, the Lynx have lost three of their last five games.
10. Atlanta (5-7): The Dream lost guard Tiffany Hayes to a Class 2 MCL tear and she will be on slack after the Olympic break.
11. Los Angeles (5-7): Erica Wheeler had the first two double doubles of her career, but it wasn’t enough to help the Sparks avoid consecutive losses to Phoenix and New York.
12. Indiana (1-14): The Fever have lost 10 games in a row since their only win of the season against Washington. The team will attempt to end that slide during a four-game home stand starting against Dallas on Thursday.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Las Vegas’ Kelsey Plum had a stellar week averaging 25 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists helping the Aces sweep a couple of games off the New York Liberty. Plum hit a career high of 32 points in its first win over Liberty. Other players who received votes this week included Courtney Vandersloot from Chicago, Breanna Stewart from Seattle, Theresa Plaisance and Tina Charles from Washington.
GOLDEN GIRLS:
The US announced their 12-player roster for the Olympics on Monday and Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi will battle it out for their fifth gold medal in Tokyo. The two five-time Olympians were joined by other veterans such as Sylvia Fowles, Tina Charles, Brittney Griner and Breanna Stewart. The Americans also have six newcomers to the Olympics, led by reigning WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson.
STATUS OF THE WEEK:
The Aces lead the league with plus 11.7 points. In the league’s first 24 seasons, the team that led the WNBA in this category have won the championship 19 times. The five teams that had a double-digit difference in points won the title every time.
GAME OF THE WEEK:
Storm at Aces, Sunday. During the regular season, the two best teams in the league will meet for the last time. They split their first two meetings to open the Seattle season.
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