AUBURN HILLS, Mich., July 26 (AP) -- The Detroit Shock's WNBA title defense won't be seriously damaged by Thursday's loss to the Chicago Sky.

It was the news that came before that game that will be a problem.

The Shock learned just before their 83-73 loss to the Sky that All-Star forward Cheryl Ford will miss the rest of the regular season with a left knee injury. Ford injured the knee in June and aggravated it last Friday in Indiana.

"That's a done deal, so we've got to figure out how we go from here,'' Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer said.

Candice Dupree had 24 points and 12 rebounds and Stacey Dales scored 16 for Chicago, which ended Detroit's seven-game winning streak.

Ford refused to talk to the media after the game, but Shock trainer Laura Ramus said that the injury is not career-threatening.

"This isn't a situation like Amare Stoudemire, where they would do microfracture surgery - Cheryl's problem isn't as severe,'' she said. "It might be three weeks or it might be six months, but when this heals, she should be the same player as she was before the injury.''

Laimbeer hopes that the player that can solve some of his problems is already on the roster - troubled All-Star center Kara Braxton. Braxton has lost her starting spot to Katie Feenstra and played only 16 minutes against Chicago.

"We need Braxton to step up - we've been carrying her all year and now it is her turn,'' he said. "I just don't know if she's capable of doing it.''

Jia Perkins added 14 points for the Sky, which beat Detroit for the first time in franchise history. Chicago never trailed as it improved to 1-6 all-time against the Shock.

"This was kind of a revenge thing,'' Dupree said. "They've beaten us here and beaten us at home, so we wanted to come in and beat them.''

Chicago blew a 15-point first-half lead before putting the game away with a second-half surge.

"We really played well together,'' Sky coach Bo Overton said. "Stacey was shooting, Jia was outstanding and we always have Candice to go to when the going gets tough.''

Ivory Latta and Feenstra led Detroit with 13 points apiece, but All-Stars Swin Cash, Deanna Nolan and Braxton combined for just 14 points on 6-of-26 shooting. Nolan, who had a franchise-record 36 points in Detroit's win at Connecticut on Tuesday, went 2-for-14.

"Deanna has that short jumper that's almost automatic,'' Dupree said. "We just tried to push up on her, crowd her and make her shoot from further from the basket.''

The Shock trailed 25-10 early in the second quarter. They cut it to 42-36 at the half, and scored the first six points of the third to tie it.

Chicago bounced back, though, getting four points each from Dupree and Armintie Price in an 8-2 run that gave them a 55-48 lead midway through the period.

The Sky led 64-55 at the end of the third, and kept rolling in the fourth. Perkins hit a 3-pointer with 8:05 to play, giving Chicago a 14-point lead.

Latta's 3-pointer got the defending WNBA champs within 77-66 with 3:25 to go, but Detroit never seriously threatened.

"I think we got tired,'' Laimbeer said. "This has been a big push for us, physically and emotionally, and I think it all caught up to us tonight.''