The Chicago Sky (6-11) closed out the month of June going 0-2 on the week and falling to 9th in WNBA standings with losses to Las Vegas and Minnesota.

Here are some takeaways from the recent slate of games:

Ice cold shooting late vs. Minnesota

The Chicago Sky had a tall task against a top 3 team in the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday. Holding a 57-52 lead heading into the fourth quarter, the Sky shot 2-for-23 from the floor with a season-low 5 points, leading to the 70-62 loss to the Lynx.

The Sky as a whole shot just 30.5% from the floor after opening up the game shooting 10-for-19 and going on a 24-9 run to end the first quarter. However, the assist rate plummeted as the game progressed; after racking up 6 in the first, the Sky only put up 8 total in the last three quarters.

“We just weren’t moving the ball,” Lindsay Allen said after the loss. “We were the whole game up until that point. We got stagnant.”

“We went away from what was working,” Chennedy Carter said after the game. “I feel like the ball was moving, everybody was in flow. Everybody from 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. As the game went on, people started to get out of flow, and we can’t have that. We have to have everybody on the same page. Everybody feeling good. Everybody taking the right shots at the right time.”

Allen set her season-high in scoring, shooting 50% from the floor and 60% from the arc with her 13 total points while Carter led all Sky scorers with 15 points. Angel Reese recorded her 10th consecutive double-double with 10 points and 16 rebounds, breaking the WNBA single season record for most consecutive double-doubles set by Candace Parker back in 2015. Reese is on track to break the all-time double-double record which is set at 12 also by Parker during the 2009-2010 seasons.

“Just proud of her,” head coach Teresa Weatherspoon said after the game. “She’s going to continue to do what she does. It’s who she is. She’s going to always come out and play hard, confident and give you everything that she has. She’s the hardest person on herself. Proud of what she’s doing and what she’ll continue to do.”

Veteran experience too much to overcome vs. Las Vegas

In a meeting of former teammates turned head coaches, it was Becky Hammon and the Las Vegas Aces who had the upper hand on Weatherspoon and the Chicago Sky in the 95-83 loss on June 27.

This was a game where the youth of the Chicago Sky was on full display. The speed and veteran experience from A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray and the Aces took control in the second quarter, out-scoring the Sky 25-14. 

The Aces then went on a 22-8 run in the third quarter and racked up 7 of their 11 total blocks in the fourth quarter, putting the Sky in too deep of a hole to pull out the win.

“Just some mistakes in terms of what we wanted to do defensively against their best players,” Allen said after the game. “When it came down to it at the end of the game when they went on that run, that’s just experience and knowing that they’re going to go on a run. I think part of that is experience as well but we’ll grow from it, get better from it and learn from it.”

“We made a lot of mistakes, and we know that,” Weatherspoon said after the loss. “We’re playing against a very good basketball team. Championship DNA over there. Not saying we don’t have that DNA, but they’ve won. They’ve been there. They know, and the momentum that they started to gain, they held onto it.”

The Sky have found ways to open up the second half on small runs of their own. They opened up the second half on a 6-0 run against the Aces but have struggled to sustain that level of offensive success for a full 40 minutes.

“It’s execution for us. Every single time, we have to know what we want to run, who we’re targeting and the play that’s necessary at that time,” Weatherspoon said. 

Stats and Notes

• Angel Reese leads all WNBA players with 194 total rebounds vs. MIN
• Isabelle Harrison reached 1,500 points vs. MIN
• Angel Reese was named BET’s Sports Woman of the Year on June 30