Caitlin Clark wasn’t on the court, but the Indiana Fever looked a lot like they did in the season opener by demolishing Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky 79-52 on Saturday night in front of 19,496 fans at the United Center.
Clark led the Fever to a 93-58 win over the Sky on May 17, but was ruled out of Saturday night’s game due to a quad injury. Both teams were without their best point guard for most of the night, as Sky PG Courtney Vandersloot played five minutes before exiting the game with a knee injury.
A bad night for the Chicago Sky
Reese and the Chicago offense struggled without Vandersloot. Rookie Hailey Van Lith took over at point guard, going 2-of-5 from the field and scoring seven total points. She added two rebounds, no assists, one steal, one block, and three turnovers.
Reese’s struggles shooting continued. The second-year power forward went 2-of-7 shooting and scored four total points. She added 12 rebounds (seven on defense), two assists, and three turnovers. She was a minus-20 on the court.
Tyler Marsh: The Sky need to be better for Angel Reese
Following the game, head coach Tyler Marsh was asked about Reese’s performance against Indiana. Marsh suggested that Reese wasn’t a problem on the court and that the team needed to do more to help the defending WNBA rebounding champion on the court.
“I don’t think Angel struggled tonight, I think we struggled as a team, Marsh said. “It’s not about Angel being better for us, it’s us being better for Angel.”
The stats in this game and for the season say otherwise.
Chicago’s offense was embarrassed in their first meeting against the Fever this season when they shot 29.1%. The Sky shot 32.1% from the floor and only 20% from beyond the arc.
Marsh stressed after the season opener that such shooting wouldn’t happen again. Right now, the Sky are struggling to play offense against teams not named the Dallas Wings. It’s who this team is right now.
Chicago’s next game is against the New York Liberty on Tuesday. The Liberty won the first matchup between the two teams 99-74 on May 22, when Reese went 0-of-8 shooting and the Sky shot 36.2%.
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