Chicago Sky Coach Admits Blame for Angel Reese Play in 11th Loss originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The Chicago Sky were defeated by the Golden State Valkyries on Friday evening by a score of 83 to 78. The loss gives them a 4-11 record during the 2025 WNBA season, which places them 11th in the league standings.
All-Star forward Angel Reese helped the Sky with 17 points and 18 rebounds in the loss. Veteran guard Ariel Atkins paced the offense with 20 points, which is the second time in the last three games that she has led Chicago in scoring.
10-year veteran guard Kayla Thornton scored a season-high 29 points for the Valkyries in the win. Tiffany Hayes chipped in 13, Kate Martin scored 11 and rookie guard Kaitlyn Chen added a career-best 10 points.
The game was a back-and-forth matchup, as no team led by more than nine points at any juncture in the game. With 32.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Reese made a layup to bring the Sky within three points.
While it was a one-score game and Chicago could have played out the possession without intentionally fouling, Reese ended up fouling Valkyries guard Tiffany Hayes with 22.0 seconds left.
Hayes made both free throws and effectively put the game out of reach. A member of the media asked Sky head coach Tyler Marsh about the mistake after the game, and he admitted blame for the sequence that involved Reese.
“That was all on me. That was my choice to have them foul,” Marsh admitted. “That was a mismanagement of the clock, so you can direct that to me.”
Through the first 14 games of the 2025 season, Reese had been averaging 11.3 points and a league-leading 11.9 rebounds per contest. Friday marked her second straight game with at least 17 points and 17 rebounds.
The Sky will look to bounce back from this loss on Sunday afternoon when they take on the 5-11 Los Angeles Sparks, whom they just defeated on Tuesday by a score of 97 to 86.
Sunday’s game will take place at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, and tipoff is set for 4:00 p.m. ET.
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This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 28, 2025, where it first appeared.
