Sky vs. Lynx: Rookie Gabriela Jaquez Sets Career Highs With 20 Points, 8 Rebounds in 86-79 Win

A 25-footer from a rookie is a bold way to end an argument, but the Minnesota Lynx had just spent four minutes building one. Chicago's lead had shriveled to four with 1:44 left on Sunday night at Target Center, the home team had every bit of the momentum, and Natasha Cloud swung the ball to Gabriela Jaquez. Thirty-five seconds after Natasha Howard's bucket, Jaquez buried the three.

Jaquez's career highs of 20 points and eight rebounds, plus 11 points and 12 boards from Kamilla Cardoso, sent the Chicago Sky past the Minnesota Lynx 86-79. That closes a season-opening four-game road trip at 3-1, a record plenty of teams would happily take at home.

A Halftime Horn and a Lead That Stayed

Minnesota owned the opening 10 minutes and led 22-16, then Chicago wiped out the whole margin in 96 seconds with a 9-0 run to start the second. The Sky's quarter turned scary midway through, when Rickea Jackson went down with a non-contact injury and did not come back. Skylar Diggins (eye) was already out, so this was a short-handed group before the half was over.

The Lynx still held a 38-37 lead in the final seconds of the half when Sydney Taylor hit a three at the horn for a 40-38 Chicago edge. It was the last time Minnesota would be ahead. The Sky opened the third on a 12-4 run, with two Jaquez free throws pushing the lead to 10, and they carried a 63-56 advantage into the fourth.

Minnesota kept scratching. Chicago's 8-0 run midway through the final period looked like the closer, and it wasn't. Olivia Miles hit a three and two free throws, Courtney Williams made a 25-footer, Howard scored on the run, and suddenly it was a four-point game.

The Three, Then the Line

Jaquez's shot is the highlight, but the reason Minnesota was chasing at all lives at the foul line. Chicago went 20-of-25. Minnesota went 8-of-12. That is a 12-point swing in a seven-point game, and the Lynx actually won most of the other categories you would check first: 32 field goals to 30, seven threes to six, 20 assists to 17, 10 steals to seven. The paint finished dead even at 40.

Jaquez and Aicha Coulibaly went a combined 13-of-13 at the line, more makes than the entire Minnesota roster managed. Coulibaly's night was the funniest version of it, 8 points on 1-of-8 shooting because the free throws just kept coming. After Miles answered the Jaquez three with a driving layup at 53.5 seconds, the Sky did what the numbers had been promising all evening, and two more Jaquez free throws with 10.8 seconds left put the last coat of paint on it.

The Rookie Line Worth a Screenshot

Look at the efficiency on Jaquez: 6-of-11 from the field, 7-of-7 at the line, 32 minutes and a team-high in scoring. According to the Sky, nobody in Sky rookie history has reached 50-plus points faster except Elena Delle Donne, which is a pretty good name to be trailing. The team also has her fourth among qualifying rookies in scoring at 12.5 points a game and second in rebounding at 5.8.

Jackson's early exit could have sunk this. She played only 11 minutes, and the rest of that workload had to come from somewhere, so Rachel Banham logged 23, Coulibaly 21 and Elizabeth Williams 14. Chicago's bench ended up scoring 28, and the rotation never looked like it was scrambling.

Everyone else pitched in all over the box score. Cardoso's 12 rebounds came with three blocks, four assists and a plus-12. Cloud, making her first start for the Sky, added 11 points, seven assists and six rebounds, and her plus-13 was the best mark in the game. Banham, a Minnesota native, came home and scored 13 off the bench. Jacy Sheldon had 10 points and four steals.

For Minnesota, Kayla McBride scored 20 on 8-of-17 shooting with seven rebounds and four steals in 40 minutes. Howard was one rebound and three assists shy of a triple-double at 17, nine and seven. Williams also scored 17, though she needed 19 shots. Miles, the No. 2 overall pick in the draft, had 13 points, four steals and four turnovers. The Lynx were also missing Emma Cechova, who hurt her right knee in Thursday's 90-86 win at Dallas, a season-ending ACL injury.

The Numbers That Mattered

• 20-of-25 vs. 8-of-12: The free-throw line, and the seven-point margin twice over.
• 28-10: Chicago's bench scoring edge, with Banham and Coulibaly doing most of the damage.
• 39-35: Chicago on the glass, helped by Elizabeth Williams grabbing eight rebounds in 14 minutes.
• 12 and 3: Cardoso's rebounds and blocks, which gave the Sky a presence at the rim on a night the paint was otherwise a draw.

Finally, a Home Game

Chicago is 3-1, and every one of those games came away from home. The Sky's only loss was a 91-83 decision at Phoenix two days earlier, so they answered that quickly. They get their home opener on Wednesday against Dallas, the first of four straight in their own building.

The Lynx are 2-2 and still looking for their first home win. They had taken two straight on the road, but they are now 0-2 at Target Center after a one-point loss to Atlanta and this one. Toronto comes to town on Thursday.

Home Alone, Reversed

The McCallisters left the Chicago suburbs for one holiday trip, and it went badly enough to launch a whole movie franchise. The Sky left town for four games, lost a starter midway through the last one, and are coming back 3-1 with a rookie setting career highs. That is the better version of the story, and nobody even had to leave a kid behind. Now they finally get to open their own front door, and the win also moves them to 20-30 all time against the Lynx, per the team, so there is still some catching up to do.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press and the Chicago Sky.