2017 Atlanta Dream/Chicago Sky Postgame Quotes/Notes
Atlanta Dream Notes
Elizabeth Williams with game-high 13 rebounds (seven offensive rebounds)
Four players in double figures (Bria Holmes, Damiris Dantas, Tiffany Hayes, & Layshia Clarendon)
Clarendon with team-high nine assists
Shot 25% from 3-point (5-20)
Biggest Lead: 13 pts
Chicago Sky Notes
Cappie Pondexter finished with double-double (20 pts and 10 assists)
11 blocked shots for Chicago
Stefanie Dolson tied career-high with 23 points on 76.9 FG% (10-13)
Dolson recorded five blocks
Jessica Breland with team-high 12 rebounds
Sky outscored Dream 36 to 24 points in the paint.
Full roster recorded minutes.
Biggest Lead: 9 pts
Atlanta Dream Quotes
Coach Cooper
On what team learned about Chicago tonight:
“You have to play a different form every minute of the game, play hard. We did some good things and some of the same things we did to them last time, they made adjustments. I thought we did make some adjustments at the end. But the one thing they did at the end is they played harder. I’m proud of our team. We played extremely hard; we could have let that one go by 20 but we stayed in it and had an opportunity to win.”
On what team will learn from this loss going forward:
“Every game we get a little bit better and we understand our weaknesses now. The mental fatigue is something we’re going to have to fight through. But that’s where your bench comes in. I stuck with our starters tonight and wanted them to play through tough times and I thought they did a great jobt.”
Layshia Clarendon
On the second half:
“We had a minute there where our body language was all kind of bad like we had kind of already lost the game and so next is correcting that and not letting it affect us. We have to look like we’re hungry the entire game.”
On lessons from this game:
“This league is too good. Every single night, I look across rosters and think, “God this team is good.” “God, this team could be in the playoffs.” “They could be in the finals.” You can’t take one night off, one quarter off, one possession off. This is the best league in the world. You have to be prepared to fight every night.”
Words to describe tonight’s game:
“Two words: Growth opportunity.”
Chicago Sky Quotes
Coach Stokes
On what she told Chicago going into halftime: “I don’t know that we came out (in second half) a completely different team. We stuck to our same principles and it was about applying. We talked about application of the things that we were doing & the adjustment to make. It’s one thing to write it on the board & it’s another thing to get on the court and apply it. The other thing we focused on coming out of halftime was making sure we secure our rebounds. Really do a good job of capitalizing on our defense by getting the rebound.”
On what she told the tell team after this win: “You know I told them I was proud of them for three reasons. I was proud of the way that they rebounded the basketball, I was proud of the way that they fought hard to get defensive stops, and most importantly, I was proud of the way that they stayed together. We have a great team with great chemistry. Their chemistry and togetherness is what won this game.”
Cheyenne Parker
On the comeback after the first quarter: “I think that we stayed together as a team, were consistent defensively, and we were able to shut down certain people, which allowed us to stay in the game.”
On difference between first and second half: “I think our mentality definitely changed. The fact that we had already lost two games back-to-back. We wanted to get a win under our belt. Our mentality was just to refuse to lose and to have some guts when it counted.”
Cappie Pondexter
On the final stretch of the game” “They came and beat us at our home opener and we knew we had to bounce back. Most importantly we really needed a win to start the season. Our mindset was just from the beginning, was to stay together. We know Atlanta is a pretty good team and we had to stay aggressive. So that was our mentality.
On the second quarter: ” I think our momentum shifted in the second quarter like you mentioned. We held them at 8 points. That was huge for us, gave us a lot of confidence on the defensive end. We know that we can capitalize if we get stops and we’re a great team in transitions.”
Highlights
Layshia Clarendon: https://www.clipro.tv/player/?ItemID=0bb71ee3-e327-4253-a69c-50866ec0dd23
Courtesy of The Atlanta Dream
