The skid moves to 3-straight for the Sky, who fall to Washington on the heels of similar mistakes

WASHINGTON D.C. – On Wednesday, Teresa Weatherspoon was angry.

Not frustrated, not irritated, angry. The same issues that led to the Chicago Sky dropping four of their last five contributed to another loss to the 11-1 Sun.

On Friday, all of those issues continued. The Sky lost to the Mystics 83-81. It was perhaps the most difficult pill to swallow so far this season as Chicago lost its third straight.

Washington, on the other hand, was down two starters and won its first game at home this season. The frustrations continued for the Sky and for Weatherspoon.

“I don’t want to talk about any moral victories,” Sky head coach Teresa Weatherpoon said. She’s had enough of lifting positives for a team that needs wins when they’re not finding them,

The usual positives were there.

Angel Reese had her fifth-straight double double. Kamilla Cardoso had another good game anchoring the post and altering offensive looks for the opposing team. The Sky had a chance to win at the end, yet again.

The team fell short.

Weatherspoon is not thinking of making changes to her starting five or her team.

“I’m not thinking of that,” Weatherspoon said. “We’ll figure it out.”

Weatherspoon was asked if the upcoming games would help her see if she needed to make any kind of change, and Weatherspoon walked out of the press conference without answering.

This time, the Sky fell short at the free throw line. Marina Mabrey missed both of her free throws with 0.2 left in the game.

The game doesn’t fall squarely on Mabrey’s shoulders. She’s one of the most dependable players on a team that needs leadership as its young core grows. Weatherspoon pointed to the little things needing to be fixed, which are the things that can be the difference in a game.

“It’s something that we got to take care of as a team,” Sky guard Chennedy Carter said. “It’s just something internally that we have to fix.”

The players echoed what Reese said last Saturday: The players on the court need to be accountable too.

“It’s something we got to fix,” Sky guard Dana Evans said. “What can we do to be better? We got to look into the mirror.”

The Sky have been close to putting it all together on the court. The issues of turnovers, late-game execution and dismal offensive stretches keep revealing themselves.

Case in point: the Sky tied the Mystics at 56-56 late in the third. By the end of the third, Washington was back up by nine.

Late in the game, Evans was on the bench. She had 14 points. Weatherspoon left Lindsay Allen in because she was piloting a lineup that was working. It was a lineup that almost completed a comeback.

“I don’t play mind games,” Weatherspoon said. “You make the adjustment in the game.”

The Sky have made them. They just haven’t found a way to exorcise all their demons.

It’s mid-June. A date with Indiana is next on Sunday morning, followed by the Dallas Wings. The opportunities to get on the right track are there. The Sky need to find ways to consistently keep their momentum going. It starts with being aggressive.

“Digging out of holes in this league is tough,” Weatherspoon said. “It takes 40 minutes. That’s the message.”