September 17, 2023 – Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) – Chicago Sky News Release
The Chicago Sky were eliminated from the 2023 WNBA Playoffs, losing 70-92 to the Las Vegas Aces in Game 2 to lose the series 0-2. The Sky are now 20-22 in the playoffs all time and finished the season going 0-5 against the Aces (0-3 in regular season, 0-2 in playoffs). The Sky are now 5-4 in their first round series in the postseason all time.
The 2023 Sky season saw multiple players finish with career years, including Kahleah Copper, who finished the year averaging a career-high 18.7 points in 38 regular season appearances. Dana Evans, Marina Mabrey and Alanna Smith all averaged career highs in scoring, while Courtney Williams registered a career-high 6.3 assists per game. Elizabeth Williams had her highest scoring output since the 2020 season. With the loss today, the Sky head into the offseason.
In the Game 2 loss, Kahleah Copper recorded a 25-point, 10-rebound double-double, leading the Sky in points and tying Elizabeth Williams for team lead in rebounds. Copper’s 10 boards tied her postseason career high for rebounds in a game. Dana Evans had a postseason career-high 22 points (Previous: 10 vs. Connecticut on Sept. 6, 2022). Her seven made field goals were also a postseason career high. Marina Mabrey was the only other Sky player in double figures, dropping 12.
For Las Vegas, A’ja Wilson finished with postseason career highs of 38 points and 16 rebounds. Wilson’s 38 points are the most in a single postseason games in Aces history. Wilson also finished with four blocks and three steals. Jackie Young finished with 15 points, five rebounds, six assists and three steals, Chelsea Gray had nine points and nine assists, Alysha Clark had 14 points and six boards and Kelsey Plum scored 10 points. In all, the Aces finished with 12 steals and four different Aces players had multiple steals.
With their win, the Aces advance to the semifinals in the 2023 WNBA Playoffs and will face either the No. 4 Dallas Wings or No. 5 Atlanta Dream (DAL leads series 1-0).
Other highlights include:
Chelsea Gray passed Becky Hammon (114 assists during the playoffs in Las Vegas career) for first on the Aces all-time playoff assists list, finishing today with 118 assists in her Aces career in the playoffs (Had nine assists in today’s game)
Gray passed Tamika Catchings (223 career postseason assists) for seventh on the WNBA’s all-time postseason assists list, finishing today’s game with 227 career assists in the playoffs
A’ja Wilson passed Tamika Catchings (62 career postseason blocks) for seventh on the WNBA’s all-time postseason blocks list, finishing today’s game with 65 career blocks in the playoffs (Had four blocks today)
Wilson also recorded a Las Vegas franchise player high 38 points
Wilson passed Swin Cash and Nneka Ogwumike (272 career postseason rebounds each) for 19th on the WNBA’s all-time postseason rebounds list, finishing today with 284 career rebounds in the playoffs (Had 16 today)
Wilson then passed Lindsay Whalen (278 career postseason rebounds) for 18th on the WNBA’s all-time postseason rebounds list, finishing today with 284 career rebounds in the playoffs
Kahleah Copper passed Courtney Vandersloot (28 threes made for the Sky in the playoffs) for second on the Sky’s all-time postseason three-pointers list, finishing today with 30 three-pointers made in the playoffs with the Sky (Made four today)
Copper passed Allie Quigley (99 rebounds in postseason with Chicago) for fourth on the Sky’s all-time postseason rebounding list, finishing with 102 rebounds in playoff games with the Sky (Pulled down 10 today)
KEY RUNS:
The Aces went on a 15-6 run from 7:53 to 2:45 in the first quarter
Las Vegas went on a 21-9 run from 8:36 to 0:15 in the second quarter
The Aces went on a 17-7 run from 5:27 to 1:21 in the third quarter
The Sky responded with a 19-2 run from 0:31 in the third quarter to 6:26 in the fourth quarter
Las Vegas countered with a 21-8 run from 6:08 to 0:24 in the fourth quarter to close out the game
KEY STATS:
The Aces recorded three blocks in the first quarter, with A’ja Wilson accounting for all of them
The Aces recorded four steals in the first quarter, with Wilson accounting for three of them
Las Vegas outscored Chicago 42-24 in the paint
The Aces out-rebounded the Sky 46-32
The Sky blocked more shots than the Aces (7-4) but the Aces stole the ball more (12-4)
The Sky were outscored 9-16 on the fast break
The Sky committed 18 turnovers and allowed 15 points off those turnovers compared to the Aces who committed 10 turnovers and allowed nine points off those turnovers
The Sky outscored the Aces in bench points, 24-18
The Sky outscored the Aces 25-23 in the fourth quarter
The Aces shot 21 of 23 on free throws (91.3%) while the Sky made 13 of 15 free throws (86.7%)
Las Vegas snagged 15 offensive rebounds and got 15 second chance points while the Sky grabbed just seven offensive rebounds and scored six second chance points
CHICAGO NOTES:
Kahleah Copper passed Jessica Breland (93 rebounds in the playoffs with the Sky) for sixth on the Sky’s all-time playoffs rebounding list, finishing today with 102 rebounds in her Sky career (Had 10 in today’s game)
Copper also passed Breland (65 defensive rebounds in the playoffs with the Sky) for sixth on the Sky’s all-time playoffs defensive rebounding list, finishing today with 69 defensive rebounds in her Sky career (Had seven in today’s game)
Copper later passed Azurá Stevens (67 defensive rebounds in playoffs with Sky) for fifth on the Sky’s all-time postseason defensive rebounds list, finishing today’s game with 69
Copper accounted for nine of the Sky’s 15 points in the second quarter (seven points, two points created from assists)
Copper passed Azurá Stevens (32 offensive rebounds in playoffs with Sky) for second on the Sky’s all-time postseason offensive rebounds list, finishing today’s game with 33 postseason offensive rebounds with the Sky (Had three today)
Copper scored eight of the Sky’s 16 points in the third quarter
Copper extended her streak of consecutive games scoring 10+ points in the playoffs, reaching 22 straight games. Among active players, her 22 straight games in double figures in the playoffs ranks second behind Breanna Stewart (23) and ranks tied for 10th all time (with Diana Taurasi)
Elizabeth Williams accounted for six of the Sky’s 14 points in the first quarter, creating all six points off three assists in the quarter
Elizabeth Williams’ three assists in the first quarter were her overall career high for assists in a playoff game (Previous: two assists, reached twice before, most recently on 8/26/18 against Washington)
Elizabeth Williams finished with five assists, extending her postseason career high
Marina Mabrey and Courtney Williams combined for 10 of the Sky’s 14 points in the first quarter
Dana Evans accounted for eight of the Sky’s 16 points in the third quarter (six points, two points created from assists)
Evans (10 points in fourth quarter) and Copper (10 points in fourth quarter) combined for 20 of the Sky’s 25 points in the fourth quarter
Alanna Smith’s two blocks in today’s game are a postseason career high
LAS VEGAS NOTES:
A’ja Wilson tied Vickie Johnson for fifth on the Aces all-time playoffs assist list, finishing today’s game with 65 assists in the playoffs with Vegas
Wilson scored 10 of the Aces’ 23 points in the first quarter
Wilson tied her career high for steals in a playoff game by the end of the first quarter, recording three steals in the first quarter
Wilson ended up with a postseason career-high four blocks by the end of the first half
In addition to her four blocks, Wilson had 19 points, nine rebounds and three steals in the first half, tying her postseason career high for field goals made in a half with eight
Before today’s game, only three players had recorded 15+ points, 9+ rebounds, 4+ blocks and 3+ steals in a full playoff game. Wilson posted that line in the first half (Across the Timeline)
Wilson is the first player in WNBA playoffs history with 25+ points, 10+ rebounds, 3+ steals and 3+ blocks in a playoff game, which she reached by the third quarter (Across the Timeline)
Wilson had 33 points and 13 rebounds through three quarters
Wilson scored 14 of her 38 points in the third quarter, scoring 14 of Las Vegas’s 25 in the quarter
Wilson is the only player in any WNBA game (regular season or playoffs) to put up 35/10/3/3 in a game (Across the Timeline)
Between the regular season and postseason, Wilson is the sixth player with 35+ points and 15+ rebounds in a game and is the only to do so in under 30 minutes played (Across the Timeline)
Wilson is the second player in WNBA playoffs history to score 35 or more points without a three-point attempt (Across the Timeline)
Wilson tied her season high for offensive rebounds in a game with six
Kiah Stokes moved past Liz Cambage and Vickie Johnson (22 offensive rebounds each in postseason with Las Vegas) for fifth on the Aces’ all-time postseason offensive rebounds list, finishing today with 24 offensive rebounds with the Aces in the postseason (Had three today)
Stokes later passed Carolyn Swords (23 offensive rebounds in playoffs with Aces) for fourth on the Aces’ all-time postseason offensive rebounds list with 24
Chelsea Gray accounted for 12 of the Aces’ 21 points in the second quarter (two points, 10 points created from assists)
Gray passed Vickie Johnson (20 steals in postseason for Las Vegas) for fifth on the Aces’ all-time postseason steals list, finishing today with 21 steals in her Aces playoffs career (Stole the ball twice today)
Jackie Young also passed Vickie Johnson (20 steals) for fifth on the Aces’ all-time postseason steals list, finishing today with 21 steals in her Aces career (Stole the ball three times today) and thus, tying Gray on the all-time list
Young recorded seven of Las Vegas’s 23 first quarter points
FINAL SCORE: CHI 72, LVA 90
CHICAGO SKY (0-2) @ LAS VEGAS ACES (2-0)
MICHELOB ULTRA ARENA | WNBA PLAYOFFS, ROUND 1 | GAME #2 | SEPT. 17, 2023
TEAM HIGH POINTS HIGH ASSISTS HIGH REBOUNDS
CHI Copper (25) E. Williams (5) Copper, E. Williams (10)
LVA Wilson (38) Gray (9) Wilson (16)
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