MINNEAPOLIS — The Sky vowed to change their energy in their game against the Lynx on Friday night after suffering their worst loss of the season Wednesday.
Spiraling, players said, was not an option.
Though they came out stronger than they did Wednesday, that spark only lasted for one quarter. By the end of the second, they looked depleted. Even worse, there was no uptick when they came out of the halftime break. The Lynx stifled every attempt the Sky made to stoke some kind of fire in their 83-66 loss.
“We just need to be put in these moments more,” Chennedy Carter said. “I am learning how to adapt in these moments and play more volume minutes. It’s just my body, our bodies getting under us and then us finding a way to come back when we are down.”
Carter led the Sky with 17 points, six rebounds and five assists. Lindsay Allen added 10 points, five assists and four rebounds. Rachel Banham scored 10 points off the bench.
To Carter’s point, the Sky are a very inexperienced team with a first-year coach and numerous injuries to key players. But none of those things are factored into the league standings. With the loss and the Mystics’ 72-69 win over the Dream, the Sky fell out of the last playoff spot and into ninth place.
The issue for them now is the race is no longer in their control. Because the Mystics own the tiebreaker over the Sky, winning their remaining three games won’t be enough to regain the last spot. They would also need the Mystics to lose.
“I’m going to pay attention to what’s going on,” Sky coach Teresa Weatherspoon said. “But yet, I’m dialed in on us. I have to pay attention to what’s happening in these standings because it’s so vital down the stretch to what we must do.”
The Sky made a run in the fourth quarter, cutting their 20-point deficit to nine with less than six minutes to play. But the Lynx followed it up with their own run. By the two-minute mark in the fourth quarter, the Lynx’s lead was back up to 20.
Napheesa Collier scored a game-high 20 points. Former Sky players Alanna Smith and Courtney Williams combined for 25.
Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve had a strong message for the Sky before the game.
After their last meeting, in which Sky rookie Kamilla Cardoso scored a career-high 22 points, rookie Angel Reese noted that the Lynx had “nobody to guard [Cardoso].” Reeve took note of that message from Reese and shared one of her own.
“We can’t grow necessarily,” Reeve quipped. “But we can play our schemes better.”
The Lynx forced 12 Sky turnovers, which they converted into 15 points. Cardoso was still impactful, finishing with 16 points, shooting 6-for-13. But the Lynx did just enough to disrupt her.
“Crowded down there,” Weatherspoon said of Cardoso’s touches in the paint. “Halftime [message] was, allow the ball to be reversed. If Kamilla is going to demand this type of attention, the ball just has to be reversed to the open person. Allow it to find the energy.”
The Sky’s remaining three opponents are the Mercury, Dream and Sun. They are winless against the Mercury and Sun this season.
“We just have to focus on getting wins,” Allen said. “And focus on what we can control.”