Sky beat Lynx as WNBA's Canadian debut earns rave reviews

Bridget Carleton was greeted with a round of applause when she checked into the WNBA Canada Game with 1:43 left to play in the first quarter as she felt the support from thousands of women’s basketball supporters who had been watching her from afar for the last four years of her WNBA career.

Saturday marked a special day not only for the Canadian and the WNBA, but for fans of the game hoping for an expansion team. They got a small taste of the league in the form of an exhibition game at Scotiabank Arena -- with the Chicago Sky downing Carleton's Minnesota Lynx 82-74 before a sellout crowd.

Chicago’s Courtney Williams was the first player to score a basket for a WNBA team on Canadian soil, as the Sky had the stronger start. Carleton's first shot, meanwhile, didn't fall exactly how she would have liked.

"When I air-balled?" joked Carleton.

"I liked my match-up, I was gonna attempt the basket, it didn't go how I wanted it to."

The Sky held the Lynx scoreless for the first four minutes until Kayla McBride broke through the Sky’s tough defence that featured many early blocks – something head coach James Wade had repeatedly asked from his team after not seeing enough of it earlier in the pre-season.

Chicago was without many of its strong players – Ruthy Hebard, Elizabeth Williams Izzy Harrison and Marina Mabrey -- but managed to utilize its strong ball movement to get ahead early.

The Lynx were without key players of their own like Napheesa Collier, but rookie Dorka Juhasz, the Ohio State turned UConn forward who was drafted last month, looked hungry early, grabbing jump balls and forcing fouls from the Sky under the basket.

Another new face on the Lynx, Tiffany Mitchell, fit in the lineup smoothly after playing with the Indiana Fever for her entire career. She helped close the gap for the Lynx and finished the first half with 11 points after penetrating the paint, the only player in double-digit scoring.

"We asked Mitchell to do a lot for us, and so she got tired there... thought she had a heck of a game, we really like what she's doing in terms of things we're asking from her," said Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve.

"That's a player we have to have on the floor, and she gets to places that some other players can't get to."

Kahleah Copper, the new leader for Chicago after the team lost most of the starting five from its 2021 championship roster, looked like the same Finals MVP-calibre player. She played with the same hunger as many of the Lynx players, diving for loose balls, driving to the basket and taking big shots. Her eight points and six rebounds in the first half told only part of the story of her tenacity from the jump.

"It's not about me, that's one thing that I know as a leader of this team, is that's not always about me and I'm fine with that, but I have a role to play for my team to be successful," said Copper.

Chicago managed to get out of the first half with a 19-11 lead despite many comeback attempts from the Lynx. The Sky also had the two-way game covered by Morgan Bertsch, scoring eight points and grabbing four rebounds early as she scored in the paint and from mid-range.

Bad turnovers from both teams kept the game a back-and-forth battle, though the Sky found better rhythm on offence to create better shots and led 37-30 at halftime of a game where both teams would have hoped for a better start.

The Lynx seemed to be the more tenacious team in the second half, once again forcing turnovers as Diamond Miller’s shot finally started to fall, scoring back-to-back baskets for Minnesota.

The Lynx managed to tie it at 41-41, and Rachel Banham nailed a three-pointer to give Minnesota the lead with just over five minutes to play in the third quarter. Less than a minute later, Banham swished one more to give the Lynx a four-point lead.

But foul trouble continued to plague the Lynx as they had trouble containing Copper and allowed the Sky to grab many of their own rebounds, resulting in Chicago moving to the free-throw line.

However, Minnesota led by six after three quarters finding a way to break through the Sky’s defence in the paint, as the Lynx put pressure on them to make turnovers while slowing down their own offence.

Yet Robyn Parks gave the Sky life with three three-pointers early in the fourth quarter to get Chicago back ahead by one point. Despite the Sky’s lack of production from three-point range, going five-for-18 up to that point, four of the team’s five made shots from distance at that point were from Parks.

Kayana Traylor made two three-pointers to keep the Sky in front despite Banham continuing to stay hot from the three-point line as well, making it a 75-72 game with just under three minutes to play.

"I really like coaching Kayana, she expressed herself today and to do that in front of 20,000 people says a lot about your character," said Sky head coach James Wade.

As shots continued to fall for Chicago in the second half and Minnesota failed to grab rebounds late, the Sky pulled away as Copper and Traylor kept up the intensity offensively.