In the third quarter of Saturday’s first-round playoff game, Chicago Sky guard Allie Quigley paused midplay to grin.
Quigley had just picked off her fourth steal of the afternoon, snagging a New York Liberty pass out of midair and pushing the ball up the court.
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With a 63-32 lead emblazoned on the scoreboard, she had time and space to soak in the moment. So Quigley beamed as she fed Emma Meesseman for a transition layup to stretch the lead in a dominant 100-62 victory in Game 2 to force a decisive Game 3.
Three days earlier, the Sky didn’t have much to smile about at Wintrust Arena. The reigning champions opened the playoffs with an upset loss, fumbling a lead in the final three minutes of Game 1 to stumble into an early elimination game.
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As Quigley launched her pass to Meesseman, there still were 15 minutes remaining. But the game was already won — in fact, it was practically over after the Sky roared out to a 31-10 lead in the first quarter.
When the Sky opened their 2022 playoffs run with an unexpected loss to the Liberty, coach and general manager James Wade fell back on one phrase: “We’re fine.”
Wade echoed the refrain again and again: about his team’s upset loss to the Liberty on Wednesday, about the prospect of facing an elimination game as a favorite and emphatically about star wing Kahleah Copper, who exited practice Friday with an apparent leg injury that seemed to jeopardize her odds of starting Saturday.
True to Wade’s word, Copper was fine by game time, putting together one of the most dominant postseason performances of her career.
Copper showed no signs of injury as she flew from baseline to baseline, bounding over opponents to score a game-high 20 points and snag three steals.
With Copper surging in the attack, the reigning champions didn’t just delay elimination — they made a statement of intent. The Sky launched a full-court press up 31 points in the third quarter and Wade refused to pull his starters until the team held a 39-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Seven different players registered a steal in the blowout win as the Sky methodically picked apart a Liberty offense that challenged them in Game 1. The Sky were more than willing to exchange a handful of fouls for a smothering perimeter presence. After struggling to contain the Liberty’s pick-and-roll game Wednesday, the Sky swarmed in rotation to collapse onto rolling players in Game 2.
The Liberty crumbled under the defensive pressure, turning the ball over 19 times while making only 20 field goals. They shot 33.3% from the field and 15% from 3-point range with leading scorer Sabrina Ionescu managing only seven points.
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With the Liberty offense sputtering, the Sky pushed the pace in transition to power a high-scoring offense. Captain Courtney Vandersloot finished with 16 points and Candace Parker added 12 points. Allie Quigley fed the offense with eight assists while Azurá Stevens (14 points) and Rebekah Gardner (11 points) fueled the team off the bench.
The Sky travel to New York for Game 3 at the Barclays Center. A win Tuesday night will put them in the best-of-five semifinals.
