Red-hot Sky soars to record-setting win over Comets
WNBA past met up with WNBA present Sunday afternoon at the UIC Pavilion.
And the past showed its age.
The Houston Comets, a team that won the first four league championships and made a habit of destroying the competition, was on the receiving end of a big-league thumping, courtesy of the Chicago Sky -- one of the hottest teams in the WNBA.
The Sky was ahead by as many as 29 points before "settling" for an 88-70 win over the Comets before 3,469.
The 18-point victory was the largest in franchise history, eclipsing a 14-point win over the Minnesota Lynx during last summer's inaugural season.
The Sky's biggest margin this season had been 13 points over Connecticut in mid-June.
This win extended an incredible stretch for the Sky -- its best in franchise history. Over the last nine days, the Sky has won four of five, including three against the top three teams in the league.
"That team (the Sky) is a team that works really hard," said Houston forward Tina Thompson, who knows a little something about work ethic.
She's been in the league all 11 years of its existence and was an integral part of the Comets' championship teams.
"They have some really good players," Thompson said. "They may not be the biggest names or the most talented players in the league, but they all work really hard and that's what you want when you're trying to build a winning team."
Because the Sky (12-14) built a big early lead -- 14 points at the end of the first quarter -- every player dressed logged at least 12 minutes, and no one had to go more than 25 minutes.
Sky guard Stacey Dales kept up her hot hand from behind the 3-point arc. She hit 5 of 9 from downtown to finish with a game-high 18 points.
The Sky also got 13 points from reserve guard Jia Perkins, a dozen from center Chasity Melvin and 11 points from forward Candice Dupree.
Reserve forward Barbara Turner paced Houston with 11 points, and Thompson finished with 10. No one else reached double figures for the Comets (8-17).
"It all started with how well we played together early," said Sky coach Bo Overton. "Chasity (Melvin) made a couple of nice passes, found Stacey (Dales) wide open, shots went in, and everyone just kind of relaxed. It was just a matter of if we could stop them and we did tonight.
"When we're executing and making shots, we're pretty good."
Possibly good enough for a playoff spot.
The Sky climbed back into the playoff race and is fourth in the Eastern Conference. The team is a game ahead of the New York Liberty and the Washington Mystics and 2 games behind the third-place Connecticut Sun, which it visits Tuesday.
"There's no pressure for the playoffs," Dales said. "We feel that we're a playoff-caliber team. It just takes awhile to peak in the WNBA and we came back after the all-star break and really found our chemistry.
"We've defined our roles, and when you have that mentality, it's easier to take the right shots and make them. We are starting to click at the right time."