Chicago Sky showcase resolve in comeback win over Mystics behind Angel Reese, Chennedy Carter

WASHINGTON D.C. - There seems to be plenty of growing moments for the Chicago Sky. 

The team handles them like veterans. Pick whichever example you'd like.

There seemed to be something once every day this week.

"We handled things very well," Sky head coach Teresa Weatherspoon said. "We're looking forward to getting better."

It was a difficult road trip for the Sky.

They arrived in D.C. on Wednesday at their team hotel, only to face a man with a camera asking questions directed to Chennedy Carter. A video circulated social media, but was later deleted after Sky players noted on social media the video left out racist and sexist language directed at the team.

This was following the vitriol in response to Carter's foul on Caitlin Clark last Saturday.

During the game Thursday, they lost All-WNBA defensive player and veteran presence Elizabeth Williams to a knee injury and trailed the winless Mystics by 13 at one point.

Chicago rallied to win 79-71 behind Carter's 25 points, as she continues to spark the Sky off the bench, Angel Reese's third-career double double and Isabelle Harrison's breakout 14-point game.

The Sky maybe a mostly young core, but they're showing plenty of resolve.

"We focused in on what we need to do," Weatherspoon said. "We dialed in on ourselves."

Reese was one of the players who called it out. She was a consistent engine against the Mystics.

Reese had plenty of family members at the game. She saw them after the game, but during the game she doesn't notice them or anything of the sort.

"I'm locked in," Reese said. "They know that."

That locked in nature led to perhaps Reese's best game of the season.

Reese said she wants to be more efficient. The fact she isn't there yet stands out to her, but in a way where she'll look at herself in a critical sense.

"I'm hard on myself," Reese said. "This is what the team needed from me."

Reese gave the Sky a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double, her second in a row. She also had five steals and three assists.

"Everything else just comes as the game flows," she said.

Weatherspoon said Reese's positioning as a rebounder is what makes her so special. She knows where she has to be on both ends of the court. 

"It's a knack," Weatherspoon said. "She knows."

That was how the Sky clawed back in the third quarter Thursday. 

Trailing by double digits, and still without a reliable 3-point shot, the Sky went into the post, drew fouls and scored in the paint. As a team, Chicago scored 48 points in the paint. That's more than half their final total.

In the third quarter, the Sky outscored the Mystics 25-10. 

In the fourth, Harrison scored, Chicago stole the following inbounds pass and Carter scored to make it a 72-66 game in the waning minutes. Carter followed that with a dagger breakaway layup to make it 74-66.

Marina Mabrey had 10 for Chicago, which made one of its 14 3-point shots, shooting 38 percent overall.

Chicago shot 26% in the first quarter and trailed 21-15. The Sky scored the opening six points of the second quarter before Washington went on an 8-0 run for a 29-21 lead. The Mystics led 44-35 at halftime.

The Sky still rallied behind a team that's seemingly getting healthier and stronger every game, both mentally and physically.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.