The United Center fell short of a capacity crowd for the Chicago Sky vs. Indiana Fever game. However, this wasn’t due to a lack of interest in the clash between these growing rivalries. Indiana dominated this matchup again winning 79-52 with Caitlin Clark out of the lineup. Unfortunately, the Sky lost Courtney Vandersloot early to a knee injury which may keep the legendary point guard out an extended period of time and clearly were rattled by that loss.
Despite the two shorthanded rosters, there were plenty in attendance on Saturday night. And Front Office Sports reporter Colin Salao confirmed why technically there was not a capacity crowd in the NBA arena.
“The Chicago Sky vs. Indiana Fever drew a sold out crowd of 19,496 fans to the first WNBA game in United Center. The arena normally fits close to 21,000, but there was ongoing construction that limited today’s capacity, per @AnnieCostabile .”
The Sky are trying to gain some momentum amid a difficult start to the season
The Sky now sit at 2-5 overall and are in third-last place in the league standings. No one could really get into a rhythm against a talented Fever defense, leading to Chicago shooting just 32% from the field and 20% from three-point range. This group has struggled on both ends to this point in the season, ranking third-last in offensive rating and last in defensive rating.
Turnovers were one of the main reasons the Fever were able to pull away, scoring 23 points off of the Sky’s 19 turnovers. The face of the franchise, Angel Reese had another uneven performance scoring 4 points and recording 12 rebounds. The 23-year-old is off to a poor start, by her high standards, shooting just 31% from the field and recording 3.8 turnovers a game. That being said, it’s certainly fair to give Reese the benefit of the doubt and expect her to grow into the season as she did last season.
The star forward and Kamilla Cardoso are the two players the franchise is building around. As they continue to improve so will this team, however, other players will need to step up should Vandersloot be out a long time. The first player who comes to mind is rookie point guard Hailey Van Lith. The No. 11 pick from this year’s WNBA Draft will surely get a lot more minutes going forward and needs to continue to get comfortable at this level. Van Lith did put up 7 points tonight but struggled with 3 turnovers and was a -26 on the floor.
Overall, it’s going to take time for these young players to reach their potential. The Sky might have to wait another season before they return to the playoffs but so long as their core continues to grow then this franchise’s future should be bright.
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