Kahleah Copper and Courtney Williams scored 25 points each as the visiting Chicago Sky rolled to a 104-89 win over the Dallas Wings on Friday in Arlington, Texas, in the first of a two-game mini-series between the teams.
The Sky's victory overshadowed the first career triple-double for Dallas' Natasha Howard, who amassed 28 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in a losing cause.
Chicago and Dallas will square off on Sunday for third and final time this season with the Sky looking for the sweep in the three-game series.
The Sky (11-15) led by 10 at halftime and by 16 heading into the final quarter and cruised to the wire, winning -- and scoring 100 points -- for their second straight game. Alanna Smith added 20 points -- 18 of those in a rousing first half for Chicago -- and Marina Mabrey hit for 16.
Satou Sabally scored 18 points, Arike Ogunbowale had 11 and Maddy Siegrist tallied 10 for Dallas. It was the fourth time this season -- and second in the past four games -- that the Wings (15-12) allowed more than 100 points in a contest.
The Sky broke away from a 5-5 tie with an 11-2 run that was capped by a layup by Smith that granted Chicago a 16-7 lead at the 4:47 mark of the first quarter. Mabrey's 2-pointer with 44 seconds to play in the period pushed the Sky's advantage to 11 points before a bucket and a 3-pointer by Howard allowed Dallas to close to within 26-20 after 10 minutes of play.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Copper expanded Chicago's lead to 55-41 with 1:30 remaining in the second period. The Wings closed to within seven points on Teaira McCown's layup with 26 seconds remaining in the quarter before three free throws by Copper with 9 seconds left staked Chicago to a 58-48 lead at the break.
Copper and Smith scored 18 points each to lead the Sky, which outshot Dallas 59.5 to 48.8 percent in the first half. Howard matched that output with 18 points but the rest of the Wings starters scored a combined 18 points before halftime.
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