Chicago Sky Offseason Update #3: Mabrey & Williams Deliver Key Win in EuroLeague Debut
Checking in on debutants Mabrey + Williams and the rest of the Sky squad in Europe.
It was another week full of action for the Sky players overseas with Marina and Elizabeth making season debuts while the rest of the Sky squad are starting to establish some rhythm with their new sides. With everyone playing significant minutes in every game, there’s plenty to get into — so let’s dive right in with the duo in Turkey:
Marina Mabrey & Elizabeth Williams (CBK Mersin — Turkey)
It was a successful debut for Mabrey and Williams on Wednesday in a vital EuroLeague win over French side Landes. For large portions of the game, it looked like Mersin might succumb to a second successive EL defeat which would’ve given them a massive uphill climb in the remaining matches. Instead, the finalists from a season ago — largely led by Mabrey’s scoring and Williams rebounding and distribution — turned on the gas in the fourth quarter to take the victory. Neither player was super efficient from the field, but they delivered the plays needed in crunch time with Mabrey filling up the scoresheet (26 pts) and Williams close on a triple double (8–8–14 reb).
It was only one game, but Mersin seemingly already have a lot of elements that they’ll need to challenge for the EuroLeague title once again. Consequently, the months ahead will serve as a chance for them to continue sharpening their game — with their league matches against Fenerbahce and the return fixture against Avenida serving as their biggest tests before the knockout phases of the EuroLeague roll around later in the season. Then again, Wednesday’s close call will serve as a reminder that no match at the EuroLeague level is ever quite as easy as it seems.
Vote for Williams for EuroLeague Player of the Week through 5 PM CT on 10/13!
Alanna Smith (Emlak Konut — Turkey)
The beauty in Alanna’s game is that, in Europe, she’s a far more ball dominant player who’s taking 15–20 shots a game, but she’s still willing to lay out for every loose ball. That tenacity, more so than her technical brilliance, probably endeared her to Sky fans, but the technical side certainly has more opportunities to shine with her bigger role for Emlak. In a comfortable league win on Sunday, she managed to drop 26 points with 13 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 1 block on 3/4 shooting from deep. The pick and pop actions put in place by the coaching staff give her lots of opportunities to catch and shoot or put the ball on the floor and go to the rim both of which are frightening options for opposing bigs — especially ones on the lower profile teams with little to no WNBA/EL experience.
Thursday’s EuroCup opener away in Switzerland was less kind to Emlak as they wound up losing 82–71. Having fallen behind early, Smith clawed her side back into the game (27 pts, 9 rebs), but opponents Fribourg simply hit more of the decisive shots in crunch time. It’s hardly disastrous as 2, and quite possibly 3, of the 4 teams in Emlak’s Group L will advance to the knockout phase, but the team will need to find more sources of offense in the upcoming fixtures. Once Smith started to go on a tear, Fribourg started clogging up the areas in the paint where she wanted to work and sending help defenders to limit her space on the perimeter. If other opponents follow that recipe, Emlak’s other players — especially former Spark Sydney Wiese (11 pts) will have to add to Smith’s offensive output to keep opposing defenses honest.
Dana Evans (Beşiktaş — Turkey)
Dana continues to Dana (to the surprise of absolutely no one). In Sunday’s narrow Turkish league victory, she didn’t benefit from the shooter’s roll — missing more than a few shots she’d normally expect to hit. In any case, she still managed to shoot 50% from deep and convert all 5 of her free throws on her way to a 26 point outing. She was also strong on the boards — grabbing 8 rebounds alongside 5 assists. Former Providence standout Jovana Nogic should be a key name to watch alongside Dana — the Serbian led the team with 27 despite a difficult night (3/11) shooting from beyond the arc.
Wednesday’s EuroCup win against Slavia BB (Slovakia) pretty much followed the same script. Evans got terribly unlucky in going 2–8 on great shot selection from three but still dropped 36 pts with 12–13 shooting from the stripe, 7 assists and 11 rebounds. Nogic, again, complemented her performance with 21–8–8. Dana seemingly has a permanent green light from coach Aziz Akkaya, but that’s not stopping the ball from moving throughout the team. Beşiktaş had 21 assists on 35 made field goals, but the stats don’t do justice to the speed and fluidity with which they moved the ball in this one. Li Yueru (7 pts, 7 rebs on Wed), technically still under contract with the Sky, has also linked up with the team following China’s Asian Games triumph.
Vote for Dana for EuroCup Player of the Week through 5 PM CT on 10/14!
Sika Koné (Perfumerias Avenida — Spain)
Sika bounced back from her limited involvement in the previous two games in a big way with her performance Saturday in a win against Bembibre. She drew the start and managed to deliver one of her most impressive performances for either Avenida or Chicago this year — compiling 9 points and 9 rebounds while drawing 6(!) fouls. Wednesday, Avenida backed up their group opening upset over Mersin in the EuroLeague with a home win over French side Villeneuve. It was another standout showing for Sika as she recorded her first double-double for Avenida with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists. She’ll be more efficient on other nights (2/6), but Avenida’s coaching staff are already drawing sets for her that get her the ball in the post or on the run to the rim — leading to chances at the line where she excelled over the last week (12/14 in the two wins).
Koné’s scoring game will be something to track as the months go by, but her potential as a rebounder is already insanely evident. On a more than a few occasions, she’s defending on the perimeter when the shot goes up, but still has the vertical quickness and length to corral the board from players in solid box out position. As she spends more time in the post and perfects her own box-out technique, there’s a huge chance she could become one of the best rebounders in the W sooner rather than later.
Morgan Bertsch (Spar Girona — Spain)
Bertsch figures to be one of the Sky players benefiting most from the extended playing time overseas. Girona will have more difficult challenges ahead, but delivered a dominant win over Barcelona in the Spanish league on Saturday where Bertsch chipped in with 12 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Her best work, however, came at the defensive end where she was key to Girona holding Barça to a 38% shooting clip inside the arc.
On Wednesday, Girona comfortably coasted past Dudelange (Luxembourg) in their EuroCup opener with efficiency being the name of Bertsch’s game. She hit 10/11 attempts from inside the arc on her way to a 24-point outing that led the team in scoring. New teammate Kelsey Mitchell made her first start (17 pts) and figures to carry Girona’s EuroCup hopes alongside Morgan after a standout season with the Indiana Fever. Next up for Bertsch and Girona is a key league match away at Koné’s Avenida.
Robyn Parks (PF Schio — Italy)
After a roaring start both in domestic play and the EuroLeague, Sunday’s derby loss to Venezia brought Parks and Schio back to earth a little bit. Anytime you shoot 42% from the floor as a team (Parks scored 10 pts on 3/11 shooting) it’s more difficult to win, and Venezia’s home crowd delivered a brilliant atmosphere that undoubtedly helped their side surge to a key early season victory. Off the back of that tough loss, Schio were keen to get back on track when they traveled to Romania for their second EuroLeague game on Wednesday, and they did just that with a 70–58 win.
It took 90 seconds to open the scoring, but Schio led for the remainder of the game after Jasmine Keys’ opening basket and never looked in serious danger. The team as a whole were still a little bit off the sparkling form of their opening two victories, but they managed to hold Sepsi just far enough away in the second half to allow for rotation through their bench. As a result of the dispersed minutes, Parks’ stat totals are nothing flashy, but she still scored 12 points in a very efficient fashion (5/9) with a steal, rebound and assist each in her 25 minutes. The bigger key is that Schio remain tied atop Group A with reigning champions Fenerbahçe after two straight victories in the EuroLeague. The two sides will meet on October 25th — making the next three games key for Parks & Schio to return to top form.
Taylor Soule (San Martino — Italy)
Like Sika and Morgan, Taylor is another Sky player benefitting from the increased volume of opportunity overseas. Making her first start since Virginia Tech’s semifinal defeat to LSU back in March, Soule came out of the gates in attack mode and helped San Martino put together an early lead that they would not relinquish throughout the remainder of the game. In total, she led the team with 18 points and filled up the box score with 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. She’ll have better shooting nights inside the arc (2/8), but Soule’s efficiency from deep (3/3) and at the line (5/5) ensured her aggressive mindset was not wasted. Crucially, you saw teammates deferring to Soule when she had the hot hand — meaning the former Hokie has already developed a good deal of trust from her new teammates. She doesn’t benefit from the added minutes on offer in Europe and San Martino have an open weekend, but I hope we’ll see Soule with the green light again when San Martino return to action on the 22nd.
Check back again next Friday when we’ll recap all of the games below (all central time) including domestic action as well as EuroLeague (round 3) and EuroCup (round 2) play. You can tap in live by finding the best site to stream the different leagues in this article I wrote earlier in the season.
Marina Mabrey & Elizabeth Williams: CBK Mersin
Saturday 10/14 @ 7:00 AM: Turkish League @ Nesibe Aydin
Wednesday 10/18 @ 1:00 PM: EuroLeague @ Villeneuve
Alanna Smith: Emlak Konut
Monday 10/16 @ 10:00 AM: Turkish League vs. Kayseri
Thursday 10/19 @ 12:30 PM: EuroCup vs. La Roche
Dana Evans: Beşiktaş
Thursday 10/19 @ 1:00 PM: EuroCup @ Mechelen
Sika Koné: Perfumerias Avenida
Saturday 10/14 @ 11:00 AM: Spanish League vs. Girona
Wednesday 10/19 @ 1:30 PM: EuroLeague @ Bologna
Morgan Bertsch: Spar Girona
Saturday 10/14 @ 11:00 AM: Spanish League @ Avenida
Thursday 10/19 @ 12:00 PM: EuroCup @ Gorzow
Robyn Parks: PF Schio
Saturday 10/15 @ 11:00 AM: Italian League vs. Campobasso
Wednesday 10/18 @ 1:00 PM: EuroLeague vs. DVTK
Taylor Soule: San Martino
No games this week (Next 10/22)
For TV listings on all games, check out this post I wrote earlier this season.
