Angel Reese, Sky too strong for reeling Wings

Angel Reese recorded 16 points and a career-high 18 rebounds and the host Chicago Sky handed the Dallas Wings their ninth consecutive loss, prevailing 83-72 on Thursday afternoon.

The Sky (5-9) used Reese’s seventh straight double-double and contributions from the starting backcourt to end a four-game slide of their own. Marina Mabrey had 19 points and Chennedy Carter, in her second game in the starting lineup, also scored 19 on 8-of-10 shooting.

Arike Ogunbowale returned from a one-game injury absence to lead Dallas (3-11) with 31 points, 17 coming in the fourth quarter on 5-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc.

Despite Ogunbowale’s outburst, the Wings shot just 35.4 percent from the field and lost 16 turnovers. Natasha Howard scored 13 points off the bench.

Dallas trailed 59-39 to begin the fourth quarter but slowly started clawing back. Ogunbowale’s second-chance triple cut the Wings’ deficit to 15 with 7:16 to play. Then she drilled 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions to pull Dallas within 69-59 with 4:09 to go.

But the Wings missed their next three shots, and Reese found Kamilla Cardoso for a layup with 2:30 remaining. The Sky had the game basically out of reach before Ogunbowale made her fifth 3-pointer of the quarter and Jacy Sheldon hit one to briefly cut Dallas’ deficit to single digits.

Dana Evans went 6-for-6 at the foul line over the final 1:32 to help the Sky ice the game. Evans finished with 12 points.

During a 13-2 second-quarter run for the Sky, Reese scored six straight points, then Mabrey made a 3-pointer and assisted Carter on back-to-back buckets. The latter was a fastbreak alley-oop, with Carter catching the pass in the air and laying it in in one swoop for a 38-23 lead.

Cardoso and Carter made layups in the final minute to put Chicago up 42-25 at halftime. Carter shot 7-for-7 for 15 points in the half.

Chicago earned its first 20-point margin of the game midway through the third quarter when another bucket by Reese made it 55-35.

Cardoso finished the day with nine points and 11 boards for the Sky.