Sky won't cry after eye scare

There was a happy ending for the Chicago Sky on Tuesday night at the UIC Pavilion.

And no, the team didn't keep itself alive in the race for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. In fact, despite getting a must-win by knocking off the New York Liberty 77-65 in front of 5,443 fans, the Sky was mathematically eliminated by the fourth-place Washington Mystics.

To get a playoff spot, the Sky needed to win its remaining three games and was also dependent on the Mystics to lose their last three.

The Mystics got a 1-point victory earlier in the evening.

But that seemed of secondary importance for the players, who got one heck of a scare from teammate Chasity Melvin.

The veteran forward suffered one of the strangest and most graphic injuries that has ever occurred during an athletic contest.

Her entire left eyeball popped out of its socket. The gruesome scene was captured clearly by several photographers.

But here's where the happy ending comes in. Melvin reports that her eyesight is fine and that she should be able to resume playing as early as Thursday.

"I have three scratches on my cornea, but it's really not anything serious," a relieved Melvin told reporters after the game. "It's going to take some time to get over this, though. I think I'm going to have nightmares all night. It was kind of traumatizing."

Melvin had been going up for a rebound midway through the first quarter and was inadvertently hit in the face by Liberty forward Shameka Christon. Melvin said at least four of Christon's fingers went directly into her eye.

"I was on the bench," Sky guard Jia Perkins said. "And it looked nasty from where I was sitting."

Melvin was rushed to UIC Medical Center, but before she even got there, her eye somehow popped back into place.

After being thoroughly examined, she asked to come back to the arena and was waiting for the team in the locker room after the game. While she met with reporters, she wore dark sunglasses -- and a big smile.

"I just turned to go to the basket and (Christon's) whole hand went in my eye," Melvin said. "The next thing I know it was just disgusting and like I was in a scary movie. I just felt it (the eyeball) on my cheek, outside on my face. Like the whole white part, it was out.

"I just want to get back with the team now. I'm so proud of them that they won the game."

Sky coach Bo Overton says he knew about the Mystics' victory at halftime but did not tell his players.

And the Sky played like a team thinking it was still in a must-win situation.

Thanks to a game-high 24 points from Perkins, the Sky overcame a 4-point halftime deficit by reeling off the first 9 points of the third quarter and never trailed again.