‘It felt really good’: Forward’s strong debut helps Aces win 15th straight
The moment Cheyenne Parker-Tyus relentlessly worked to experience finally arrived Tuesday night.
The veteran forward, just over two months removed from delivering a baby, made her Aces debut in the team’s 92-61 win over the Chicago Sky at T-Mobile Arena.
The team opened its final home game of the regular season by running out to a 21-8 lead over the Sky. Cheers then rang out when fans noticed Parker-Tyus jogging towards the scorer’s table with a wide grin on her face. Reigning MVP A’ja Wilson raised her hands to egg on the crowd while she ran over to Parker-Tyus, connecting for a high-five as Parker-Tyus subbed in for Wilson with 2:23 remaining in the first quarter.
The standing ovation barely had time to die down before Parker-Tyus scored her first points in an Aces uniform. She somehow caught a bullet of an underhand pass from guard Jackie Young under the basket on a fast break and finished.
Parker-Tyus scored eight points in eight minutes, while Young and guard Jewell Loyd led the team with 15 points each in the win, the Aces’ 15th straight.
Only three other teams have won at least 15 consecutive games in WNBA history: The 2014 Phoenix Mercury (16), the 2001 Los Angeles Sparks (19) and the 1998 Houston Comets (15). All of them went on to win the WNBA title the same season as their winning streaks.
Parker-Tyus, who signed with the Aces (29-14) as a free agent this offseason and gave birth to her son Yoshua on July 1, said previously she joined the group with one goal in mind: A championship.
Now that she’s officially chasing that dream, she was almost at a loss for words in the postgame news conference.
“It felt really good,” Parker-Tyus said of her Aces debut. “Honestly, just putting my jersey on, being with my teammates, being able to be in those huddles — it meant the world today.”
Parker-Tyus’ Aces debut came against Chicago, the team that picked her No. 5 overall in the 2015 draft. But she said she was proud of how she stayed focused on the present Tuesday.
“Just being a mom,” Parker-Tyus said. “Being able to be a pro, still be there for my children and just to go hard. It gives me another level of strength, and I just try to show that.”
Coach Becky Hammon was quick to expand on how special Parker-Tyus’ showing was.
“It wasn’t just the work that she put in after delivery. She was working her body the whole time,” Hammon said. “It is not easy to get out there. She was pumping (breast milk) at halftime. It’s remarkable for her to be out there right now, almost miraculous.”
A lot of bigs on the bench
In addition to Parker-Tyus’ debut, the Aces welcomed forward NaLyssa Smith back to the starting lineup Tuesday. Smith missed one game in concussion protocol after taking a hard fall in the team’s win over the Minnesota Lynx on Thursday.
Smith and Parker-Tyus gave Hammon more frontcourt options than she’s had all season. Smith finished with 13 points, Wilson had 11 and center Megan Gustafson, who was sidelined to start the year with an ankle injury, scored five points in three minutes.
Center Kamilla Cardoso and forward Michaela Onyenwere scored 13 points each for the Sky (10-33), but Hammon said it was forward Maddy Westbeld that forced her to stick with a smaller lineup despite all of the frontcourt players at her disposal.
“There were a lot of bigs on the bench tonight at one time, more so than we’ve ever had,” Hammon said. “But Maddy Westbeld was playing a one-man zone. She was not guarding our other post players. So I went small.”
Hammon added she was glad to see the Aces’ bigs stay ready even though it was difficult to get them all playing time. She also said she’s not concerned about Wilson, the WNBA’s leading scorer, getting more utilzation with the deeper rotation in the future.
“I’m not worried about it. It’s just kind of a little bit of a one off,” Hammon said. “Like I said, Maddy Westbeld just sat in paint the whole time.”
The Aces moved to No. 2 in the WNBA standings with the win. They close the regular season by facing the Los Angeles Sparks on the road Thursday.
Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.
