Nothing will be easy for the Chicago Sky this season.
That has been made clear enough in the first five games. The team started the season with a lengthy injury list that only has grown, punctuated Sunday by the loss of Rickea Jackson to a torn ACL.
Despite the anticipation surrounding Wednesday’s home opener at Wintrust Arena, the game took on a bittersweet pall as the entire roster wore Jackson’s jersey into the arena to show support for their injured teammate, who wasn’t present as she prepares for surgery.
And with an increasingly short-handed roster, the Sky couldn’t maintain an early lead over the Dallas Wings in a 99-89 loss.
“The only constant on our team has been change so far,” guard Skylar Diggins said. “We understand that. But that was unacceptable defensive effort tonight.”
Photos: Dallas Wings 99, Chicago Sky 98 in home opener at Wintrust Arena
The game highlighted the starkest challenge for the Sky at the moment: weathering a steep size disparity without Jackson. Coach Tyler Marsh moved rookie Gabriela Jaquez to the four spot in the starting lineup, a tall task for a 6-foot wing playing her fifth WNBA game.
The issue will be lessened when 6-6 forward Azurá Stevens returns from a knee injury, which the team expects in the next week. But in the meantime, the Sky remain short-handed in the frontcourt with only centers Elizabeth Williams and Kamilla Cardoso available.
For the first half Wednesday, it looked like Cardoso might single-handedly make up for the team’s absences down low. She spun and shuffled and side-stepped around reigning Defensive Player of the Year Alanna Smith and created offensive opportunities for her teammates through screening and dribble handoffs at the perimeter.
Cardoso finished with a season-high 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for her third double-double, but the Sky couldn’t manage with her alone. After leading by 11 in the second quarter, they caved under increased offensive pressure from the dynamic Dallas duo of Paige Bueckers (24 points) and Arike Ogunbowale (23 points).
And while Smith struggled down low, the Wings took advantage of the Sky’s lack of a secondary frontcourt player to feed Jessica Shepard, who finished with a triple-double of 18 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds.
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The Sky attempted to counter these looks as the Wings built toward a double-digit lead, playing Cardoso and Williams in a double-big rotation. But they ultimately were hamstrung by a lack of 3-point shooting and a faltering defensive effort.
The Sky were outscored 27-15 behind the arc, shooting 24% (5 of 21) from deep. They failed to record consecutive defensive stops for the entire second half, allowing the Wings to score 62 points.
“It wasn’t good enough,” Marsh said. “It wasn’t the standard that we’ve set. They made us pay for every mistake that we made defensively.”
The Sky carved the deficit to three with 2 minutes, 32 seconds left, but Ogunbowale halted any semblance of a comeback with back-to-back 3-pointers.
Despite the loss, the Sky remain above .500 after opening the season with a 3-1 road trip. The next three games are also at home, and they don’t play another road game this month.
“We lost one of the best players in the league, y’all,” Diggins said of Jackson. “There’s a lot of residuals that come off of that. We’ve just got to get into the swing of it.
“But I ain’t trippin’. I love our squad. We stay together. It’s a great unit and we love playing with each other. We’ve got to bring back that defensive intensity on Saturday.”