At some point the Sky must show they’re headed the right direction. They weren’t close to doing so in their opener last week and they looked just as far away Thursday in a 99-74 loss to the defending champion Liberty.
There’s a long season ahead after just two games, and certainly not every opponent will be this tough, but the Sky urgently need results after losing their first two games by a total of 60 points.
Very little looked right Thursday as the Liberty took a 21-point lead by halftime. The Sky were shooting just 31.2% at that point, had just one fastbreak basket and hadn’t gotten a point yet from star forward Angel Reese.
They’re not entirely reliant on Reese, but won’t be doing much without big contributions from her. She didn’t score until six minutes left and finished with a career-low two points on 0-for-8 shooting, 2 of 6 on free throws, 12 rebounds and five turnovers in 27 minutes.
“Just staying poised and looking for the next shot,” Reese said of her mindset amid her struggle.
Reese’s exasperation boiled over in the third quarter when she scrapped for what she thought was a hard-fought offensive rebound, but got whistled for a foul after an emphatic reaction from the Liberty bench.
Reese ran to referee Tyler Mirkovich to argue, and he heard enough to give her a technical foul. It was her second this season and sixth of her career.
When asked if her reaction was specific to that play or from an accumulation throughout the game, Reese said she couldn’t remember.
Regardless, that sequence was not what the Sky needed, already down 53-40. The Liberty pushed ahead 72-48 late in the third quarter and never let them back in the game.
Reese looked off throughout the game, and her frustration kept growing. She frequently got opportunities at the basket off passes or rebounds, but kept getting blocked, stripped or simply missing.
“Some of [her shots] were rushed,” coach Tyler Marsh said. “That was really it. Angel knows that we have confidence in her… We have constant belief in all our players to make those. It’s not going to be often that we have a ton of misses like this.”
Late in the second quarter, Reese finally got to the free-throw line, but missed both shots. When the Sky came back down the floor on their next possession, Reese had a nice drive for a basket, but was called for traveling and threw her hands down in annoyance.
With 7:03 left in the game and the Liberty running the Sky out of the arena, she went to the foul line, and her first shot bounced out. She looked up in disbelief and said something under breath, then missed the next one as well.
She got to the line again with 6:18 left, swished the first shot and threw her hands up in relief. She made the second, too.
While Reese faltered, little help arrived to carry the Sky.
Point guard Courtney Vandersloot, playing against the team with which she won a championship last season, led the Sky with 14 points. Rachel Banham and Rebecca Allen chipped in 15 and 11 points, respectively, off the bench, and no one else on the Sky scored more than eight.
The Sky also committed 23 turnovers, their most in a game since 2022, and that led to 27 points the other way.
The Liberty, conversely, did everything right. They had a balanced offense with five players scoring in double digits, led by Natasha Cloud with 18, and made a WNBA-record 19 three-pointers on 34 shots.
It left no doubt how far the Sky still have to climb.
“We have a lot to work on, but we’re going to figure it out,” Vandersloot said. “We’re all committed to that. We’re not going to let two losses stop us.”
