WNBA Player News

Onyenwere started Chicago’s most recent game, a July 16 loss to the Dream, but only played 12 minutes. She’s now dealing with a knee injury that will keep her sidelined for at least Tuesday’s matchup with the league-leading Lynx. This leaves Chicago down two rotation wings, with Ariel Atkins also out. Rebecca Allen is the likely replacement in the starting lineup, but she offers limited streaming value.

Harrison will remain in concussion protocol after she sustained one following the Liberty’s 83-71 loss to the Lynx on August 10. Without Harrison—yet another front court player in addition to Breanna Stewart and Nyara Sabally who both remain out—the Liberty’s front court rotation shrinks and Jonquel Jones, Emma Meesseman and Kennedy Burke will all have to step up. Expect some more minutes from Leonie Fiebich and Stephanie Talbot at the four spot especially since Burke is still getting back into game-level conditioning.

Sabally last played a month ago on July 16 right before the All-Star break against the Indiana Fever. Since then Sabally has rested her right knee which has been bothering her all season in addition to going out to Germany for a few days to get special treatment on her right knee. Head coach Sandy Brondello told reporters on August 5 that Sabally was going to be re-evaluated on August 18. While Sabally will miss her 13th game in a row since before the All-Star break, news on her status for the rest of the season and the playoffs should be coming soon. Without Sabally, Jonquel Jones has been the Liberty’s only true center with sometimes Emma Meesseman switching over to play the five.

Stewart will miss her 10th game in a row since she sustained a bone bruise on her right knee during the Liberty’s July 26 game against the Sparks. When she spoke to media members on August 10 before the Liberty took on the Lynx at home, she explained that she prefers to return to play before her birthday on August 27. Since Stewart has been out, the Liberty have been rotating a bunch of players into the four spot including new acquisition Emma Meesseman who has been in her place in the starting lineup. But also Stephanie Talbot and Leonie Fiebich have had to play out of position at the four amid Stewart’s absence. Although with Kennedy Burke back for her second game following missing two and a half weeks with a first degree calf strain, New York will now have some more front court depth leading up to Stewart’s return.

In a rough offensive game for the Sky, Williams still manage to stuff the stat sheet. She began the game by scoring eight points of her 10 total in the first quarter on a few hook shots deep in the paint in addition to a post-up on wing Janelle Salaün. While Williams began the game shooting 4-for-5 from the field, she only hit one more shot in the final three quarters. Williams didn’t just score but facilitated and found Rachel Banham for two of her three-point makes in addition to two high-low passes to Kamilla Carodoso. Williams added some defense as well picking up five boards in addition to two emphatic blocks on Kate Martin and Temi Fágbénlé right at the rim.

Rupert was incredibly efficient scoring the basketball in her 20 minutes of play coming off the bench. She didn’t miss from three-point range, and hit all four of her three point shots. Two came on two drive-and-kicks via the right corner pocket from Veronica Burton and Tiffany Hayes while the other two were above the break three-pointers on passes from Hayes and Kate Martin. Rupert’s four three-point makes on Friday take her season average to 45.8% on 48 total attempts in a 11 game span. Rupert didn’t just score, but also played a role connecting the Valkyries’ offense. She used her size to screen for both Janelle Salaün and Burton which led to three more Valkyries three-point makes.

Hayes scored in a myriad of ways on Friday night. She began by hitting a pair of three-pointers, the first coming off the dribble and the second off the catch on a swing pass from wing Kaila Charles. Hayes’ two other field goals were on a slash to the basket and then a 19-foot mid-range pullup with 6:24 left in the third. Hayes played well off stretch big Iliana Rupert, finding her for two wide open three pointers. The first was off Hayes’ paint penetration, hitting Rupert in the right corner pocket and the second came off a pick-and-pop above the break.

In just her second game played with the Fever, Sims continues to adjust to Stephanie White’s offense. On Friday Sims looked a bit more comfortable clearly with at least a practice under her belt. While Sims hit 50% of her shots, she took ten of them and some of which weren’t in rhythm within the Fever’s offense. While Sims is known to play with pace, a part of her game has always been her struggles with shot selection and knowing when she should take the shot versus when it’s best to move the ball to a much more open player.

Sutton created a lot of her own offense. She succeeded making a bunch of difficult shots including four mid-range long twos. With over a minute left in regulation and the Mystics up just three points, Sutton came off a dribble handoff with Kiki Iriafen and hit a 11-foot pullup over Odyssey Sims to put the Mystics up by two scores with less than a minute left in the game. In addition to shot making, Sutton also created offense as a facilitator. She found four different teammates for scores including three-point makes from Stefanie Dolson, Sonia Citron and Alysha Clark. Sutton also found Iriafen cutting off the ball for a score midway through the second quarter.

On Friday Howard approximately matched her field goal attempts and points scored during the Fever’s previous game against the Wings. She hit her shots all within five feet of the rim, the area where Howard is most effective using her athleticism to be able to roll and move off the ball. Howard was much less aggressive on the glass, however, than she was against the Wings on Tuesday. She only had one rebound on Friday night. She collected the ball after teammate Lexie Hull missed a three-pointer and as a result Howard scored on the putback.

Clark racked up her third double-digit scoring outing of the season on Friday. She hit three three-pointers, two coming on passes from Jade Melbourne where Clark didn’t have a defender anywhere near her, in addition to a three-point make that was set up on a screening action from guard Sug Sutton. Clark’s only other made field goal came on a driving floater that came off her own paint penetration where she was able to back down Sophie Cunningham and then take her off the dribble.