WNBA: Sky Win Season Opener Over Lynx Despite Rocky Start
Kahleah Copper's 20 leads the way for new-look squad's impressive debut
The Chicago Sky beat the Minnesota Lynx 77-66 in the WNBA season opener for each team Friday night at Target Center in Minneapolis.
Featuring a brand new starting lineup staffed by Marina Mabrey, Courtney Williams, Morgan Bertsch, Elizabeth Williams and the team’s senior-most star, Kahleah Copper, the Sky showed signs of miscommunication early in the first quarter as defense miscues and poor setups shared blame with missed shots from the offense.
After being shut out 6-0 for the first few minutes of the game, the Sky wound up finding their groove in the second quarter when they held the Lynx to only three points and finished the first half with a 17-point lead (44-27).
Copper, the new face of the Sky, looked comfortable in this opener, finishing the night with 20 points, 5 assists and 7 rebounds. Copper marked her 16th career 20-point game with Friday’s performance
Off-season acquisition Elizabeth Williams made a big time "Welcome to the WNBA" block against Lynx rookie Diamond Miller toward the end of the first quarter, the defensive highlight serving as a centerpiece for the Sky’s buffet of lockdown plays, which included 7 blocks and 10 steals by halftime.
Williams’ 14 points and 6 rebounds were among the top supporting performances of the opener, which also saw 15 points from another off-season signee, Alanna Smith, and 10 from the returning Rebekah Gardner.
Head coach and general manager James Wade signed nine new faces to the Sky's roster to supplement four returning players. The team’s biggest splash came from acquiring Mabrey from the Dallas Wings in a four-team deal in exchange for four future draft picks. The slick five-year guard has been on Wade's radar for a while and looks to bring her versatile skill set to Chicago.
Of course, most of the WNBA’s attention towards Chicago this past off-season centered around the departures from several key players of the 2021 championship team, including top star Candace Parker (Las Vegas Aces), Courtney Vandersloot (New York Liberty), Azurá Stevens (Los Angeles Sparks) and the semi-retired Allie Quigley have left the current team with big shoes to fill, so much so that most have the team finishing in the bottom third of the 12-team “W.”
Copper, the 2021 Finals MVP, is the only remaining player starter from the championship team (ed. note - reserves Dana Evans and Ruthy Hebard are still with the Sky, Hebard is not on the active roster due to her recently giving birth).
After putting the correct pieces together in 2021, Wade and his squad failed in their goal of winning back-to-back championships despite a much more successful regular season than the year before. The No. 2 seed Sky (26-10) lost to the No. 3-seeded Connecticut Sun (25-11) in five games during the league semifinals.
Friday’s game may have given a glimpse into a certain level of promise that exists beyond the league-wide projections, but its still early to see how successful Wade will be navigating this newly combined set of talents.
The team's chemistry and communication skills will be his biggest areas to address throughout this season, but in the meantime the Sky have a taste of what it looks like to come together the right way.