Chicago faces Golden State following Cloud's 35-point performance

Audio By Carbonatix

Golden State Valkyries (25-10, 10-7 Western Conference) at Chicago Sky (14-22, 3-10 Eastern Conference)

Chicago; Friday, 7:30 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: Chicago Sky hosts the Golden State Valkyries after Natasha Cloud scored 35 points in the Chicago Sky's 93-86 win against the New York Liberty.

The Sky are 9-9 in home games. Chicago is fifth in the WNBA with 21.4 assists per game. Cloud leads the Sky averaging 5.0.

The Valkyries are 10-5 on the road. Golden State ranks fourth in the Western Conference shooting 34.7% from 3-point range.

Chicago is shooting 44.3% from the field this season, 1.5 percentage points higher than the 42.8% Golden State allows to opponents. Golden State's 42.2% shooting percentage from the field this season is 2.5 percentage points lower than Chicago has given up to its opponents (44.7%).

The teams play for the third time this season. The Valkyries won the last meeting 91-71 on Aug. 13, with Tiffany Hayes scoring 22 points in the win.

TOP PERFORMERS: Kamilla Cardoso is scoring 14.8 points per game and averaging 8.8 rebounds for the Sky. Cloud is averaging 14.7 points and 3.9 rebounds over the last 10 games.

Veronica Burton is scoring 12.5 points per game and averaging 3.5 rebounds for the Valkyries. Janelle Salaun is averaging 2.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Sky: 5-5, averaging 88.8 points, 34.0 rebounds, 22.7 assists, 8.7 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 44.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 90.4 points per game.

Valkyries: 7-3, averaging 84.6 points, 31.3 rebounds, 21.4 assists, 8.8 steals and 2.7 blocks per game while shooting 43.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 78.2 points.

INJURIES: Sky: Skylar Diggins: out (knee), Rickea Jackson: out for season (knee).

Valkyries: Iliana Rupert: out for season (pregnancy).

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.