Star rookie Angel Reese of Chicago learned how physical the WNBA can be when the Sky faced Connecticut last month.
That physicality could again be on display as the Sun eye another 2024 win at Chicago on Wednesday night.
The Sky (4-6) played the Sun (10-1) tough on May 25, but the visitors prevailed 86-62. That was despite Sun star forward Alyssa Thomas – who averages 12.2 points, 10.4 rebounds and 8.5 assists — being ejected for a flagrant 2 foul after holding Reese’s neck and knocking her to the ground late in the third quarter while the two were working for position.
Reese (11.6 ppg, 9.6 rpg) doesn’t expect opponents to take it easy on her.
“I want them to come at me every day,” she said.
“Thank you (Thomas) for sending the message to me because I got back up, and I kept going and pushing.”
Reese finished with 13 points, but the Sky couldn’t hold a 79-78 lead with roughly five minutes to play. Connecticut star DeWanna Bonner (18.6 ppg) scored five straight to put her team in control.
The Sun return to Chicago after rebounding from an 82-75 home loss to New York on Saturday by rolling 89-72 over Indiana on Monday. DiJonai Carrington had 22 points as the Sun set season highs for points (55), shooting (61.3 percent), assists (15) in a first half.
“We bounced back. We improved in a lot of areas,” Sun coach Stephanie White said. “(We) came out and did what we needed to do.”
Carrington (12.8 ppg) scored 16 with six rebounds last month against the Sky, whose loss to Connecticut started a 2-5 rut.
Playing without injured forward Elizabeth Williams, Chicago fell 89-80 to visiting Atlanta on Saturday. With 13 points, 13 rebounds and five steals, Reese became the third rookie in WNBA history to post at least those numbers in a game, but Chicago couldn’t fully overcome a 29-15 first-quarter hole.
The Sky, now ranked 11th while shooting 28.9 percent from 3-point range, went 3-of-11 from the distance Saturday while falling to 1-4 at home.
In her first career start, Chicago’s Kamilla Cardoso, a first round pick like Reese, had 13 points on Saturday.
