Mercury guard Kahleah Copper’s return to Wintrust Arena was like trying on an old pair of beloved jeans and finding they still fit. In Copper’s case, it was more like finding her old No. 2 Sky jersey. In fact, she did and wore it for her walk-in.
She had owned every inch of that court with a great first step and a big heart for seven seasons. On Thursday night, she proved that everything still fit and the court still belonged to her, scoring a game-high 29 points in the Mercury’s 85-65 victory over the Sky.
“Yes,” Copper said plainly when asked if that was the kind of performance she hoped to have against her former team. “Efficient. You win. I like that.”
Copper said she had her pregame outfit planned for “a very long time.”
The Sky had no answer for Copper or Mercury center Brittney Griner. The three-time Olympic gold medalist scored 23 points, shooting 10-for-12 from the field, to go with nine rebounds, six assists, five blocks and two steals.
The Mercury’s three-point volume allowed them to establish and maintain separation. They went 12-for-23 from three-point range.
“We had a hell of a game plan,” Sky coach Teresa Weatherspoon said. “But we had to follow it for 40 minutes, not two.”
Angel Reese had 11 points, going 4-for-14 from the field, and grabbed 15 rebounds. Her sixth offensive rebound pushed her past former Sky great and two-time WNBA champion Sylvia Fowles (117) for most offensive rebounds in a season. Kamilla Cardoso added 10 points, and Dana Evans finished with a team-high 14.
Copper painted the court with her effortless cutting, splitting defenders as she drove the lane. At one point, after elevating to the rim and dropping the ball through the net, she let a grin creep across her face, seeming to signal that it was just too easy.
“She was locked in from the jump,” Griner said. “She’s been locked in since being over in Paris. We all know what she can do. We’ve been on the receiving end of it.”
The Sky — who added two new players after guard Marina Mabrey requested a trade — looked disjointed. Their three-point game remained ineffective despite Weatherspoon’s certainty that Rachel Banham — whom they acquired in the trade for Mabrey — would be their answer. They shot 21.1% from deep.
Banham had seven points and went 1-for-6 from behind the arc. In her starting debut for the Sky, Michaela Onyenwere struggled offensively, making only one of her eight field goals. She had five points and went 3-for-4 from the free-throw line.
“It’s the first game they’ve had with each other,” Weatherspoon said. “We’ll build from that, and like these young ladies said sitting here, we’ll be OK.”
The Sky had a three-game advantage over the Dream for the eighth and final playoff spot coming into this game. But their performance against the Mercury — combined with the fact that the last-place Wings are back from the break with a healthy Satou Sabally, Maddy Siegrist and Natasha Howard — indicates that they’re far from a playoff lock.
“We have to be about us,” Weatherspoon said about the playoff race. “That’s it. It’s game by game. We don’t try to look at everybody else’s schedule, seeing what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. If we don’t focus on ourselves, we’re in trouble.”
Brittney Griner and Kahleah Copper led the Mercury in their win over the Sky despite having only three days off since winning gold at the Olympics.
The Indiana Fever, fueled by the buzz surrounding rookie sensation Caitlin Clark, are the focal point for the dramatic increase in the WNBA’s popularity this year.
Six months after she requested a trade from the Sky, Copper’s career-best performances serve as an unforgiving reminder to the franchise that “this was never supposed to happen.”