Sky shake up starting lineup, crank up defense to beat Mercury

PHOENIX — It’s been a stormy start to the week amid a stormy start to the season.

But the Sky weathered both Tuesday, pulling out a 77-66 win over the Mercury behind 16 points from rookie Sydney Taylor and a much improved defensive effort.

“I think we did a really good job playing off one another, feeding off each other’s energy,” Taylor said. “They went on their little runs, we went on ours. We took it to the chest, stayed down, we stayed connected, and finished strong.”

The win snapped the Mercury’s three-game winning streak. It also came after a starting lineup shakeup that sent point guard Skylar Diggins to the bench and exposed tension between her and coach Tyler Marsh. Diggins ended up a late-scratch, out with a right knee injury that surfaced pregame.

Even without their second-leading scorer, the Sky (7-14) had more than enough, taking advantage of a depleted Mercury team was turning the ball over left and right.

The Sky closed the third quarter on an 11-2 run to lead 56-42 behind Taylor’s hot shooting and a defense that had been slipping.

“We’re a really great defensive team,” Natasha Cloud said. “We started the season like top three, and then we got away from it, but that is our identity and our offense will always come from it.”

Courtney Vandersloot started at point guard in Diggins’ place, though she remains on a minutes restriction and sat to open the second half so the team could manage her workload.

Cloud returned to the starting lineup on the wing and finished with 11 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals, including a 30-footer that pushed the lead to 20 midway through the fourth.

Marsh said he liked what he saw from the new look but is still evaluating what will work going forward.

Cloud said that starting or not, her “job is to show up every single night.”

“The job is to get a win for the Chicago Sky, and that’s what I’ll do,” she said. “So whether it’s starting, coming off the bench, guarding a four, guarding the one, whatever I got to do, I’m gonna do it.”

She added: “We’re not worried about that outside noise. We’re just taking one game at a time. We got a win tonight in Phoenix and we have an LA trip coming next. Just one game at a time, but we’re doing it together.”