WNBA: Vandersloot injury clouds outlook for Sky after UC loss

It marked a new day for basketball in Chicago as the Sky hosted the visiting Indiana Fever in the first ever WNBA game held at the famed United Center.

Although Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham were out with injuries and Fever head coach Stephanie White was absent, 19,496 fans still found their seats. It was the largest attendance for a Sky game in franchise history.

As for the Sky, the biggest of many blows came in the opening minutes when veteran point guard Courtney Vandersloot went down, cradling her knee in pain. She was subsequently carried off the court and out for the remainder of the game. Her official status is unknown.

Altogether, the air went out of Chicago and they couldn’t recover. The Fever exploited that void, as the visitors maintained control and received key contributions from Aliyah Boston, Natsaha Howard, Kelsey Mitchell, Lexie Hull and Aari McDonald. Four out of those five scored in double figures. Mitchell led with 17 points, followed by Howard with 13 points, McDonald with 12 and Boston had 11.

The Sky struggled in the areas of turnovers, transition defense and shooting. They finished the game with 21 turnovers, gave up 23 points off turnovers, and shot only 32.1 percent from the field. On top of that, the Sky were a meager 20 percent at the 3-point line and 68.4 percent from the free throw line.

Furthermore, the Sky didn’t have a single player score in double figures. The only players that came close were Kamilla Cardoso and Rebecca Allen, who each finished with eight points. Cardoso played even after battling soreness in her shoulder that had caused her to miss practice.

Elizabeth Williams came off the bench and scored seven points of her own. Hailey Van Lith stepped in for Vandersloot and also scored seven points. Ariel Atkins scored four points and dished out tree assists. Angel Reese scored four points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.

Even with a low scoring performance by Reese, head coach Tyler Marsh turned the focus on the team getting better as a whole and not just on one individual, insisting after the game:

I think we struggled as a team. We got to be better for us, we got to be better for Angel. I don’t question Angel’s effort. So tonight, I thought she gave us what she could. She played good on the glass. We got to better across the board.

The Sky did manage to do well in bench points as they outscored the Fever 31-23. Yet, they still achieved their lowest-scoring performance of the year and their lowest scoring output since 2011.

As for Vandersloot, her absence will undoubtedly linger for the time being. The question begs who will step up and fill the void? Much like her playing status, that remains to be seen.