The Sky got everything they needed against the Fire on Wednesday night.
They got a hot start from rookie guard Sydney Taylor, ensuring they did not fall into another early hole.
They let their defense fuel transition offense, capitalizing on the speed of their guards.
They got a well-timed scoring burst from point guard and leading scorer Skylar Diggins to build a lead in the third quarter.
And, crucially, they kept center Kamilla Cardoso out of foul trouble, allowing her to play free and stay on the floor.
What it amounted to, after dropping four close games and then playing terribly against bottom-dwelling Connecticut, was the thing the Sky needed most: to thrash somebody. To build a lead and keep it.
“Just a testament to this team, to our connectivity that stretches much beyond the court,” Natasha Cloud said after the game. “It may not always show up in the win-loss column, but we are here, we’ve been in most games, and it’s just nice to finally finish one out in our favor.”
The Sky’s bench helped make that possible, scoring 38 points. Cloud, Jacy Sheldon and Aicha Coulibaly all gave the Sky solid minutes, and for once, they won the rebounding battle — against the only team in the league worse on the defensive glass than they are.
The two teams played inverse styles of basketball. The Sky dominated the paint with 56 points. The Fire shot 40% from three-point range. The Sky’s version worked better.
“We could use a win like today where things just felt like they were clicking on both ends,” coach Tyler Marsh said.
Maybe this is the beginning of something different. Two of the Sky’s five victories have come against the expansion team, and they get another bite at the apple Friday night.
Still, one win does not erase the hole they have dug or the number of games they already have let slip.
“We know,” Cloud said. “We see this record, we feel this record, we know that we should have pulled some of these wins out, but we are committed to being focused, to resetting each day.”