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Chicago Sky Announce Change After Two Straight Losses

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Levi M. Dombro | Last updated Jun 13, 2025 8:16 PM ET

The Chicago Sky now own a 2-6 record during the 2025 WNBA season after Tuesday's 85 to 66 loss to the New York Liberty.

Tuesday's defeat marked the second consecutive game that the Sky lost by 19 points or more, and the fifth time they have lost by 13 or more points this season.

In last Saturday's defeat against the Indiana Fever, the Sky lost 15-year veteran point guard Courtney Vandersloot for the season. She suffered a torn ACL just under five minutes into the contest.

On Tuesday, new Sky head coach Tyler Marsh replaced Vandersloot in the starting lineup with Rachel Banham, a nine-year veteran who played a season-high 27 minutes in the loss.

Banham mustered just three points and five assists on 1-for-6 shooting in the defeat. Backup guard Kia Nurse played 20 minutes off the bench and scored eight points on 3-for-6 shooting.

Before Friday's game against the 6-3 Atlanta Dream, the Sky announced that they had made a change to their starting lineup. Instead of starting Banham, Marsh opted for Nurse.

"our starting 5️⃣ tonight," the Sky announced.

our starting 5️⃣ tonight @OlaySkin | #skytown pic.twitter.com/qt7Ap6WZWM
— Chicago Sky (@chicagosky) June 13, 2025

Nurse is a seven-year veteran who has made stops with the Liberty, Phoenix Mercury, Seattle Storm and Los Angeles Sparks. This season for the Sky, she is contributing 7.5 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.

After starting the first seven games of the 2025 campaign, Nurse came off the bench for one game against the Liberty. However, she is back in the starting lineup for Friday's Commissioner's Cup contest against the Dream.

Chicago will look to move up in the Eastern Conference standings with a win against Atlanta on Friday. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET at Gateway Center Arena in College Park, Georgia.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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