Sky-Lynx Preview

By KATE HEDLIN
Posted Jun 22 2012 5:36PM

Epiphanny Prince keyed the Chicago Sky's impressive start and talk of the franchise's first playoff berth. Now they'll try to remain a top contender without her.

In its first game since losing Prince to a broken foot, Chicago visits the Minnesota Lynx on Saturday in a matchup of first-place teams.

A meeting against the defending WNBA champions appeared to be a good test for the surprising Sky (7-2), who are atop the Eastern Conference. However, Chicago suffered a huge blow when Prince fractured her right foot in an 84-70 loss at Indiana last Saturday.

Prince is expected to miss six to eight weeks, leaving the Sky without the league's second-leading scorer. She's averaging 22.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists.

"She has had such a great start to the season," coach Pokey Chatman told the team's official website. "The injury is obviously very disappointing for her and for us. In the meantime, we have a resilient veteran team that will keep us moving forward until we're back at full strength."

The injury could lead to additional playing time for Tamera Young, who made her first start Saturday in place of Ruth Riley. Young grabbed a team-high seven rebounds but was held to three points on 1-of-6 shooting after scoring in double figures in three straight games.

While the Sky look for someone to step up alongside Sylvia Fowles, second on the team with 19.1 points per game after scoring 26 last Saturday, it could be hard to compete with the depth on the Lynx (11-1).

Minnesota bounced back from its first loss of the season with a 102-70 win over New York on Thursday - the second time the Lynx have topped 100 points in a game this year.

Seimonne Augustus scored a season-high 26 points while rookie Devereaux Peters added a career-best 18.

"We wanted to see how we'd bounce back. I think everybody wanted to see it," said Augustus, who scored 12 points on 5-of-16 shooting in Sunday's 65-62 loss to Seattle. "We've had a lack of aggression, but in the second quarter, we showed what we can do."

After trailing 28-17 early in the second quarter, Minnesota went on a 23-6 run. The Lynx finished 10 of 18 from 3-point range and outrebounded the Liberty 49-31, grabbing 16 offensive boards.

Minnesota is the highest-scoring team in the WNBA at 85.2 points per game, with six players averaging at least 8.0. Peters, contributing 6.1 per game, was the latest to step up. She played 19 minutes Thursday, adding six rebounds and two steals.

"Dev's a possession player, she competes," coach Cheryl Reeve said. "And when you compete and you play that hard, great things happen to you. I thought tonight was a great example of that."

Peters may get additional minutes as Jessica Adair deals with a knee injury. Adair has not played the last two games after recording two minutes in her last action against Phoenix on June 15.

Minnesota, which has won 12 straight at home including the playoffs, has won three in a row over Chicago.

Whalen lifts Lynx past Sky 79-67

Posted Jun 23 2012 5:02PM

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) The Minnesota Lynx appeared headed for an easy afternoon before Chicago got off to a fast start in the second half to make it close. However, the defending champions then pulled away again.

Lindsay Whalen scored 25 points, Taj McWilliams-Franklin added 12, and Seimone Augustus and Maya Moore had 10 each to lead the Lynx to a 79-67 victory over the Sky on Saturday.

All of Augustus's points came in the second half as Minnesota (12-1) won its second straight after it's only loss of the season last Sunday.

Down by 17 points at halftime, Chicago (7-3) scored the first 12 points of the third quarter to pull to 51-46. Moore scored Minnesota's first points of the second half more than 7 minutes into the frame and added a 3-pointer the next time down the floor. Augustus made a 3-pointer to give the Lynx a 62-51 lead.

``I felt like we were still getting pretty good shots,'' Whalen said. ``We just needed one to go in and then after that we got a couple fast breaks and were able to make plays out of that. Somebody just had to step up and make that first shot.''

Augustus finished off a 2-on-1 with Whalen for an easy basket before a spin move and layup by Whalen gave the Lynx a 66-52 lead early in the fourth quarter. The Sky didn't get closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

Sylvia Fowles had her ninth double-double in 10 games for Chicago, with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Sonja Petrovic added 13 points and Swin Cash 11 for the Sky, who committed 24 turnovers and lost its second straight to fall to second place in the Eastern Conference.

``You give Minnesota credit,'' Cash said. ``They did some good things out there, but a lot of it is what we can control. ... We have to go out there and really lock in and focus on not being so turnover prone.''

Chicago played its first game without leading scorer Epiphanny Prince. The guard, who was averaging 22.3 points per game, is expected to miss 6 to 8 weeks with a broken bone in her right foot, which she injured last Saturday.

``Piph made it easier for us because she was knocking down shots from the outside, so it made a threat from the inside presence to the outside,'' Fowles said. ``Everybody's just got to step up. Things happen like that. ... You still have to step up and play your game.''

Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said it was Whalen's best all-around game of the season.

``My mindset going into this game was I needed Lindsay Whalen to be good off the pick and roll and get some easy stuff. ... She got the game ball today.''

Whalen scored five points in a 14-4 run to give the Lynx a 23-8 first quarter lead. She scored seven straight points late in the first half for a 48-34 lead.

``We know anybody can step up on this team. When we play as a team really good things happen,'' Whalen said. ``I just wanted to be aggressive.''

Both teams wore commemorative uniforms to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Title IX, the federal law that pushed forward sports participation for women and girls.

• Sky: --
• Lynx: --

• Sky: --
• Lynx: --

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 2

• Arena: Target Center, Minneapolis, MN
• Officials: #39 Michael Price, #21 Byron Jarrett, #34 Maj Forsberg
• Attendance: 9267
• Duration: 2:04