Angel Reese’s 15th Straight Double-Double Comes On Rebounding Her Own Miss & Teammate’s AIR BALL!!
Angel Reese managed to extend her 14-game double-double streak in Wednesday’s game, needing fourth-quarter assistance in the final minute from teammates Chennedy Carter and Marina Mabrey
The anxious murmurs around the Chicago Sky’s Wintrust Arena crescendoed Wednesday afternoon as Angel Reese’s first free-throw attempt of the final seconds landed on the front iron and rolled around the cylinder. Once it dropped in, the healthy weekday crowd erupted recognizing that she’d extended her WNBA-record double-double streak to 14 games.
She made her second attempt from the line for good measure, icing the Sky’s 78-69 win over the Atlanta Dream. “DUBBBBB (ima stop stressing yall out),” Reese wrote on Twitter in her first words after converting her nervy free throws. The LSU grad finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds alongside two assists, three steals and two blocks.
Completing the rebounding leg of Wednesday’s double-double came easily to the WNBA’s leader on the offensive glass, who snagged eight boards by halftime. Reese’s scoring success came slower, however, limited by early foul trouble and a breakout performance from frontcourt partner Kamilla Cardoso.
The South Carolina product was selected ahead of Reese in the 2024 WNBA Draft in May, but she missed the first six games of the regular season because of a shoulder injury. Cardoso cracked double figures for the first time in six games against the Dream and was particularly bright in the first half.
Reese’s offensive involvement grew after halftime, but her historic double-double streak looked destined to end before a selfless move from Chennedy Carter. Carter was particularly impressive Wednesday with 19 points and looked to take a last-second outlet pass “coast-to-coast” in the final seconds with a chance at overtaking Atlanta’s Allisha Gray as the game’s leading scorer.
However, after hearing the groans at Wintrust Arena and the calls from her teammates, Carter recycled the ball to Marina Mabrey, who had a better angle to find Reese in the post. There, Reese drew a foul.
“I told my team when I got in the locker room, ‘I’m glad y’all told me because I was ready to go coast to coast, to the rim,’” Carter explained to reporters after the game. “But then I looked and Angel was sealing, I looked at the bench and they were like, ‘Throw it in, throw it in….’ So I was excited for her [Reese] to get that.”
Reese and Carter also linked up moments earlier, allowing the power forward to convert at the rim and give the Sky a five-point lead with 25.1 seconds remaining. The rookie poked free a steal on the following defensive possession, forcing Gray to foul and beginning the free-throw precession.
And while Reese’s final two points may have come cheaply, the free-throw line has become a crucial element of the Sky star’s historical statistical output. She currently attempts 5.4 free throws per game, good for seventh in the entire WNBA. Reese converts foul shots at an impressive 75.2 percent clip given her lack of perimeter field goal shooting.
Reese and the Sky return to action Thursday evening against the league-leading New York Liberty in Brooklyn. The action begins at 7 p.m. ET and will broadcast on Prime Video.
