NEW YORK — The Sky were eliminated from playoff contention this season, but the project of the future — their Twin Towers — looked alive and well Thursday night.
Franchise pillars Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso dominated the paint against the second-place Liberty, each recording a double-double. They out-rebounded the Liberty 42-27, exploiting one of the few mismatches that goes in their favor. The Liberty rank at the bottom of the league in rebounding percentage, while the Sky are at the top.
Cardoso delivered maybe her best game of the season, missing only one shot on her way to 22 points and 15 rebounds.
“It’s no small task to outplay JJ and Meesseman,” head coach Tyler Marsh said, referring to Liberty forwards Jonquel Jones and Emma Meesseman. “Those are two of the best to play in this league.”
Cardoso’s rebounding has taken off in the second half of the season, and she’s now ranked sixth in the league. She also handed out five assists and helped facilitate the offense throughout.
“I think that’s one thing that’s underrated about me,” Cardoso said after the game of her passing. “I like to get assists.”
Marsh has preached all season that his bigs’ facilitation is their most important attribute, and it came through against the Liberty. With under three minutes remaining and the Sky trailing by two, Reese fed Cardoso down low to tie the game at 83. They went on to win 91-85.
Key to that victory was stringing together stops late. All season the Sky have struggled defensively, but they dug in during crunch time against one of the league’s most dangerous offenses.
“We knew who the ball was gonna get to — Sabrina — and kudos to our guards for playing so well against her,” Reese said, referring to Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu.
The Liberty were hot from 3-point range in the first half, sinking 10. But the Sky held them to just 3-of-14 from beyond the arc in the second. Guard Ariel Atkins drew the assignment on Ionescu and frustrated her with physicality, forcing her into rushed looks. Ionescu, sixth in the league in made threes, did not hit one all night.
Marsh praised his team’s composure down the stretch, noting they stayed present in the moment — impressive for a group that hasn’t had much experience in close games this year.
What excites him most lately, though, is having much of his roster back healthy. Reese, Cardoso and Atkins have all missed extended stretches, so he hasn’t gotten a clear view of what this roster could’ve been.
Thursday night served as a re-introduction, with Reese suiting up for her second consecutive game after missing time rehabbing a back injury. The result: a win over the second-best team in the league on their home floor.
“New York is a team that makes you feel like you’ve got to get everything back in one possession because of the potency they possess from an offensive standpoint,” Marsh said. “We didn’t get overwhelmed.”
Before the game, Reese reflected on what veterans have told her about the path to success in the league: teams improve as their young players develop. If she and Cardoso keep trending upward, it’s a reason for optimism for the Sky’s future — even in a season that’s otherwise fallen short.
But Marsh isn’t looking too far ahead just yet. With nine games remaining, he’s still focused on finishing strong.
“We feel like as a team that we’ve kind of underachieved this year,” he said. “So there’s still reason and motivation to get up and finish this season out strong.”