Sylvia Fowles paces Chicago Sky to a 69-57 win over the Washington Mystics - WNBA Recap
On Saturday night Chicago Sky opened their account in the 16th WNBA season with dash. Led by Sylvia Fowles’ 23 points, they handed over a 69-57 defeat to Washington Mystics here at Verizon Center.
Fowles, the reigning WNBA defensive player of the year, also had 12 boards on the night. Heading into the 3rd quarter Sky were leading with 13 points, 38-25, however they could only score 7 in the frame and allowed Mystics to close in at 42-45 going into the final quarter.
“We still have some wrinkles we have to straighten out.” Fowles said after the game. “But this was a good start and definitely a test for us to see what we were made of.”
Epiphanny Prince scored 16 points while Swin Cash came up with 14 points and 7 rebounds for Sky.
Apart of that brief 3rd frame window, Washington never stood a chance in the game. They had only two players in double scoring figures, with Crystal Langhorne at 16 points and Monique Currie collecting 14 points. Washington committed 23 turnovers in the game that resulted into 25 points for Sky. They were only 40.7% from the floor.
Mystics coach Trudi Lacey was disappointed with the effort of her team;
`I was not anticipating us coming out on the court with this type of effort”. Lacey said.” `Decisions, passes, simple things like pass and catch the basketball. I would expect players with experience who have been in the league to make better decision than we did early on.”
Mystic opened the game with a 6-0 run but Sky responded with a 19-4spurt. Dominique Canty made a layup for Washington and trimmed down lead to 19-12 by the end of 1st frame.
Sky extended their advantage to 31-16 with a 12-4 run early in the 2nd period. Mystics tried to fight back and by the end of 1st half they trailed by 38-25. Sky went ice cold in the third allowing Washington to trim down the lead gradually.
Mystics managed a 17-7 run and as the game entered into its last 10 minutes they reduced the lead to 45-42.
Sky came out of the hibernation in the decisive frame and erupted with a 14-5 sprint, reclaiming their double-digit lead, 59-47. With 1:50 on clock Chicago were leading comfortably at 64-55 before hammering the last nail with a 5-nothing burst.
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