Chicago Sky Offseason Update #29: To The Victor Go the Spoils
Dana and Beşiktaş fall just shy of history while Marina, Elizabeth and Mersin struggle to find their footing against the mighty Fener.
Because of their summer commitments with the Sky and other WNBA teams, we often view the offseason exploits of the WNBA’s stars as being of secondary importance. However, there’s no doubt that, even in a short space of time, many players are able to establish a unique bond with their clubs—especially European sides with extremely passionate fan bases. Dana Evans, capping her second season with Beşiktaş in Turkey, certainly falls into the camp of players who’s bond with their club overseas is deep—with Evans’ social media showing there’s plenty of mutual admiration between her and the team’s fans. Consequently, guiding the club to their first major trophy since 2005 by winning the EuroCup, while not necessarily equivalent to lifting the WNBA title, would certainly go down as one of the highlights of her professional career so far if Beşiktaş could finish the job in Wednesday’s final. Let’s dive into how her side fared in their effort to consolidate their first leg advantage and break the club’s trophy drought plus check in with the other four Chicago stars still playing in Europe.
This Week’s Biggest Stories
1. Evans & Beşiktaş Fall Just Short of Historic EuroCup Title
In the first leg of the EuroCup final, Beşiktaş built a useful seven-point edge over London but left themselves with work to do in the second leg despite leading for 39:31 and building an advantage as big as 18 points in the third quarter. Even with both Dana (7/23 FG) and Jovana Nogić (5/18 FG) struggling to get going from the field, their defensive energy (as I suggested last week) provided a key spring board for what was, ultimately, a dominant home win. They protected the ball better (9 turnovers committed vs. 15 by London) and created easy buckets in transition from those turnovers (17-11 edge in points off TO). Evans was key to those efforts—again showcasing her ability to contribute to winning basketball even when her shots aren’t falling. Her aggression going to the basket was key to creating opportunities for others on dump offs around the basket and helping Beşiktaş establish an important edge at the line (20-9 FT differential). Their efficiency at the stripe (95%) was also vital to the win—especially given their struggles from long-range (6/24 3PT).
In the return leg in London, Beşiktaş’ shooting woes continued (37/35/65 splits), but foul trouble was an even bigger concern. Nogić fouled out before the end of the third quarter, Li Yueru sat for long stretches of the second half before picking up her fifth foul with 4 minutes remaining and Tijana Krivačević, who was adding some valuable size in Yueru’s absence, made it three Beşiktaş players who failed to make it to the final buzzer. With all that going on, the offensive burden fell heavily on Evans and Mihaela Lazić (16 p, 6/9 FG) but Beşiktaş were still in the game up to the final seconds—leading on aggregate after Evans converted a lay-up with 35 seconds to go. From there, London took over as Holly Winterburn hit a massive three to reclaim the lead before Karlie Samuelson stole a Lazić pass in the process of Beşiktaş trying to work the ball to Evans for the final shot—giving the Lions an 81-70 win that left them 4 points clear on aggregate. Despite another tough shooting night (17 p, 6/31 FG), Evans showcased her knack for delivering in the big moments—scoring 5 points on 2/3 FG with 2 steals (4 total) and an assist (8 total against 0 TO) in the final two minutes of the game.
With Beşiktaş’ season done, Evans’ focus will now turn back to Sky training camp, which opens on April 28th, where she’ll look to solidify her position as Chicago’s starting point guard for 2024. In 43 games with Beşiktaş across the KBSL and EuroCup, Evans finished with impressive averages of 23 p, 5.9 a, 3.6 r and 1.4 stl per game. Her efficiency, which dipped in the season’s latter stages (38/34/88), will be key to her maintaining her place as a WNBA starter both in 2024 and beyond.
2. Fener Get Upper Hand on Williams, Mabrey + Mersin in KBSL Finals
The opening quarter of Game 1 of the KBSL Finals between Fenerbahçe and Mersin felt like a close encounter in many areas, but there was an obvious edge for reigning champions Fener in both shot selection and, consequently, field goal percentage (67% vs. 30%). The 7 quarters that followed produced much of the same and leave Marina Mabrey, Elizabeth Williams and Mersin in a 2-0 hole in the best of 5 series for the Turkish title. Mabrey (9/30 FG, 3/12 3PT) didn’t get going in either of the opening two games and, with that in mind, it was very difficult for Mersin’s offense to keep up with Fener’s high powered attack (which slashed 49/56/76 in the opening two games). Considering the number of shots left just short, it would seem that she—like Evans—is also suffering from some fatigue late in the season, but there was also plenty of occasions where Mabrey and others seemed to force difficult, spot-up shots that had little hope of falling in any physical state. To the contrary, when Mersin (especially Kahleah Copper) drove aggressively or got the ball to Elizabeth Williams (19 PPG on 62% FG) they actually had quite a bit of success—as evidenced by their second quarter ‘win’ in each of the weekend’s games. Unfortunately for Mersin, it was hard to stick to that script throughout the game with Fener’s stifling defense, of course, earning some of the plaudits. Mersin must now try to regroup ahead of the EuroLeague semifinal on Friday (also against Fener) where they’ll be without Williams—their most dangerous offensive weapon of this series so far—before returning focus to a potentially decisive game three of this series on April 17th.
You can read my full preview of both of Friday’s EuroLeague semifinals here.
Quick Hits
Sika Koné maintained her place in the Avenida starting line-up and delivered another efficient performance (8 p, 3/5 FG) as her side coasted to an 82-61 win that leaves them just one victory from securing the top seed in the LF Endesa playoffs. Also key to the victory? Koné’s work on the glass—with her 8 boards leading Avenida to a dominant edge in that category (42-24).
Robyn Parks and Schio rolled to a dominant 85-43 victory on Sunday which allowed Parks to play just 20 minutes and attempt fewer field goals (4) than in any other game this season. An eighth win on the bounce keeps Schio in second place—with a chance to go joint top of the table with a win in their game in hand.
As always, you can find the best site to stream all of the different leagues the Sky players are involved in live + the full schedule of games over the coming week in this article which is updated on a regular basis.