DiJonai Carrington Makes WNBA History in Career Night as Sky Fall to Storm
· Yahoo Sports
DiJonai Carrington scored a career-high 26 points Monday night in Chicago's 97-88 loss to the Seattle Storm at Climate Pledge Arena.
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In her sixth game with the Sky, Carrington came off the bench for 26 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 steals in 27 minutes. She became the first player in WNBA history to finish with at least 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 steals as a reserve.
Carrington's previous career high was 22 points with Connecticut on June 27, 2023. She went 7-of-20 from the field Monday and made all 10 of her free throws. The 10 makes were another career high after she previously made 8 against Phoenix on July 1, 2024.
Monday also brought two career milestones. Carrington reached 500 made field goals and 100 made 3-pointers. Her 6 free throws in the first quarter matched the most she has made in a quarter.
Sky Fall Behind Early in Seattle
Chicago never led. Seattle was ahead 22-16 after the first quarter, then put together a 16-6 run in the second and took a 47-33 lead into halftime. The margin reached 17 in the third.
Courtney Vandersloot said Chicago did not match Seattle's intensity to start the game.
"I just don't think we matched their intensity," Vandersloot said. "We didn't come out with enough of it. They dictated the pace, they dictated the physicality, they dictated the game. We were playing reactive, and it kind of just set the tone for the rest of the game."
The Sky scored 33 points in the third quarter and cut the deficit to 4 during a 14-5 run. Vandersloot had 11 of her 13 points in the quarter, her most in any quarter this season. She had previously scored 8 in a quarter against Atlanta on July 19.
Vandersloot made 6 of 7 free throws in the third and went 8-of-9 at the line after halftime. Monday was her 451st career game, moving her past Becky Hammon into 17th on the WNBA's all-time games played list.
Sky coach Tyler Marsh said Seattle had more force at the start before Chicago picked up its play in the second half.
"Yeah, I'm not sure. I think that we started okay against Indiana," Marsh said. "I think there's a couple of the home games, Connecticut and Vegas, where we started off a little slow. But I'm not sure.
"I think that obviously the rotations have looked different," Marsh explained. "The lineups have looked different here and there. But I think that coming out tonight, I think that Seattle was just hungrier to start the game. We eventually got into it, and I thought we played hard in that second half. But we just — we wanted to start with a little bit more force tonight."
Carrington Leads Fourth-Quarter Push
Chicago made another run in the fourth. Carrington's fast-break layup with 2:52 remaining capped a 12-4 stretch and cut Seattle's lead to 84-82. Zia Cooke hit a 3-pointer 40 seconds later. The Storm finished with 22 points off Chicago's 15 turnovers.
Carrington said getting into the paint has come more naturally as she has played more games with the Sky.
"Yeah, yeah. I mean, I know we did talk about that recently, and it was kind of like a progression," Carrington said. "I think the first game I wasn't ready to get in the paint. It was a lot of threes. And second game, I was like, okay, let's get to the middy. We're getting closer. Third game, all right, let me touch the paint. And now I'm feeling more confident, more strong and more willing to take bumps and go into traffic. So I think that's what we saw there.
"Now it's just, after that bump, staying on balance and being able to finish and still get that touch around the rim," Carrington continued. "But I mean, I'm happy that I'm not shying away from that contact anymore, or shying away from potentially being pushed off balance. So it's just going to hopefully get better."
Marsh said Carrington's ability to put pressure on Seattle at the rim led him to use her for longer stretches.
"I think today I just had to play her a little longer — longer stretches, just because of the pressure that she was putting on the defense at the rim," Marsh said. "She was getting to the free throw line. And so I didn't want to disrupt that.
"It kind of came at the expense of Gab's minutes tonight," Marsh added. "So there probably will be more of a balance there moving forward. But yeah, she was the one that had it going today. So I just wanted to have her out there."
Kamilla Cardoso Adds Another Double-Double
Kamilla Cardoso had 15 points and 13 rebounds for her 12th double-double. Seven players in the WNBA have at least 12 this season.
Seven of Cardoso's rebounds came on the offensive glass. She now has 299 offensive rebounds in her career, second in Sky history behind Sylvia Fowles' 510. Cardoso also moved past Allie Quigley into sixth on Chicago's career defensive rebounds list. She committed 6 turnovers Monday.
Natasha Cloud finished with 7 points and a team-high 8 assists. She has handed out at least 5 assists 17 times this season. Since returning to the starting lineup July 7, Cloud is averaging 6.1 assists.
Azurá Stevens had 9 points and 8 rebounds to go with 2 assists and 2 blocks. Elizabeth Williams picked up career assist No. 500.
Rachel Banham played 12 minutes and scored 8 points. Her first 3-pointer gave her 400 for her career, making her the 41st WNBA player to reach that number. She is eighth on Chicago's franchise list for made 3-pointers.
Dominique Malonga Leads Storm
For Seattle, Dominique Malonga finished with 26 points and 10 rebounds. She made 9 of 14 shots, blocked 3 shots, and connected on a career-high 3 3-pointers.
Natisha Hiedeman had 18 points and 9 assists while making all 12 of her free throws. Cooke provided 16 points off the bench. Taylor Thierry returned to the rotation after not playing in Seattle's previous 11 games and had 7 points and 6 rebounds in 21 minutes.
The Sky made 41.7% of their shots and went 6-of-20 from 3-point range. Chicago scored 48 points in the paint to Seattle's 38, while the Sky bench finished with a 39-29 scoring edge. The two teams had 18 steals.
Chicago fell to 12-21 overall and 4-12 away from home. The Sky are 22-30 all-time against Seattle.
Chicago plays at Golden State on Wednesday at Chase Center.