The Chicago Sky (11-18) opened up the second half of the WNBA season going 1-4 with the lone win coming against the Los Angeles Sparks on Aug. 17. The Sky currently sit at No. 8 in the WNBA standings.

The franchise made a move during the Olympic break, trading Marina Mabrey to the Connecticut Sun in return for draft capital and two guards in Moriah Jefferson and Rachel Banham.

With all these changes, the Sky have still found ways to stay in games until the very end, setting up an interesting road ahead for the team’s chances at making the postseason for the 6th season in a row.

Kamilla Cardoso’s shining developmental growth

The No. 3 pick in the 2024 WNBA draft has had an interesting rookie season, starting with an injury that sidelined her for an entire month. Cardoso then came back and was instantly made a starter when Elizabeth Williams went down with a meniscus tear. What fans saw in the first half of the WNBA season out of Cardoso was a rookie finding her footing in the pros.

What Cardoso has shown in the second half of the season is a rookie who’s now comfortable in the league and growing her game to match the expectations set for her for the rest of 2024 and moving forward. Since the start of the second half, Cardoso is averaging 12.9 points a game along with 8.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks. Her numbers before the Olympic break? 8.1 ppg, 7.8 rpg and 1.1 bpg.

Cardoso has found ways to finish around the rim while also slowly but surely expanding her shooting range. Her defensive success has limited other team’s powerful bigs, including A’ja Wilson. Cardoso blocked 5 of Wilson’s shots in the Sky’s heartbreaking 77-75 loss to the Aces on Aug. 25 – something that Wilson has never experienced in her entire WNBA career.

“[Expanding the shot range] is something I’ve worked on, and my teammates and coaches showed me so much confidence. They made me feel comfortable to just start shooting,” Cardoso said after the Connecticut game on Aug. 23.

“She’s just more comfortable,” head coach Teresa Weatherspoon said after the Connecticut game. “She’s meeting the challenge. She’s not afraid to shoot the ball, and I don’t want her to be. She’s sure of herself, and there’s a lot of confidence that we tried to just pour into her as a staff as well as her teammates. She’s helped this team be successful, and it’s great and awesome to see.”

Always fighting until the final buzzer

Outside of the two blowout losses to the Phoenix Mercury – 85-65 on Aug. 15 and 86-68 on Aug. 18 – all other games have been decided by single digits or have come down to the final seconds since the Olympic break. 

Against Connecticut on Aug. 23, the Sky put together a third quarter that limited the Sun’s offensive attacks, outscoring Connecticut 29-18. They had a 3-point lead heading into the final 90 seconds before the Sun shut the game down at the free throw line, 82-80.

Against Las Vegas, Chennedy Carter knocked down a game-tying 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left in the game before A’ja Wilson laid in an inbounds pass from the sideline as time expired. 

Against Los Angeles, the Sky outscored the Sparks 26-12 in the fourth quarter to pull out the 90-86 win on Aug. 17.

“We don’t own a towel to throw in,” Weatherspoon said after the loss to the Sun. “We don’t own that on this team. We don’t give up, no matter what it looks like. We always believe that we’re in it and we can win it. 

“We’re young. We’re growing, but we’re competitors. Those young women are incredible competitors, and they want to win. They came out with an incredible amount of grit in the second half to go win a game. That I can be proud of.”

This fight and resiliency has been a part of the Sky’s identity since the start of the season. Over the 29 games played, the Sky have only lost 6 games in double digits. Every other game has been within 9 points. Chicago has found ways to stay in games late; they’re just not finishing on the right side of the win/loss column.

“It sucks,” Sky forward Michaela Onyenwere said after the loss to the Aces. “To be in the position where we could have won the game back-to-back and come up short, it’s frustrating as an athlete and competitor. Really, we don’t have time to dwell. We’re in the home stretch of the season. Right now, we’re still in the playoff realm, and we want to continue to do that. It’s cliché but we really need to look on and move forward from this and learn from what we did in this game.”

Postseason possible?

With 11 games left against some tough opponents, the road to the postseason will be a difficult one. They have three games against Top 5 teams in September along with some must win games against the bottom half of the WNBA standings.

As a refresher, the top 8 teams at the end of the WNBA season will punch their ticket to the postseason. These are the standings as of Aug. 26:

1. New York Liberty – clinched
2. Connecticut Sun – clinched
3. Minnesota Lynx – clinched
4. Seattle Storm
5. Las Vegas Aces
6. Phoenix Mercury
7. Indiana Fever
8. Chicago Sky
9. Atlanta Dream
10. Washington Mystics
11. Dallas Wings
12. Los Angeles Sparks

If the Sky have their sights set on making the postseason for the 6th straight year, they have to win against Los Angeles, Dallas, Washington, Indiana and especially Atlanta. The Atlanta Dream sit at No. 9 right behind the Sky with the season series split at 1-1. Whoever wins that game on Sept. 17 will most likely punch their ticket to the WNBA playoffs.

Before that, there’s games this week at home against the No.10 Washington Mystics on Aug. 28 and the No. 7 Indiana Fever on Aug. 30. These two games are must-wins if the Sky want to try and avoid relying on other teams to determine their postseason fate. Beating the Fever would not only give the Sky a bit of breathing room, but it could also help solidify Angel Reese’s chances at winning Rookie of the Year.

After this week, the Sky have tough tests on the road against No. 3 Minnesota Lynx  who have already clinched their spot in the playoffs on Sept. 1 and the No. 5 Las Vegas Aces on Sept. 3. These next four games will determine whether or not the Sky need to start watching how the Atlanta Dream fair over these next four weeks. 

If the Sky can find a way to pull off some upsets over those Top 5 teams and beat Indiana, the Sky do have the chance to move up to No. 7. 

Stats and Notes

• Angel Reese became the first WNBA player in history to have multiple games of 10+ offensive and defensive rebounds in the same game vs. LV
• Angel Reese racked up her 22nd double-double, tying the WNBA rookie record for most double-doubles in a season vs. LV
• Angel Reese became the first WNBA player in history to have consecutive games with 20+ rebounds vs. CT
• Angel Reese moved up to No. 4 on the all-time WNBA rookie rebounds list with 332 vs. PHX (8/18)