Sky keep mixing, matching wing players Kia Nurse, Rebecca Allen in search of winning combination

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — As Sky coach Tyler Marsh tinkers with his rotation, he has two sides of the same coin at wing with Kia Nurse and Rebecca Allen. Nurse began the season as his starter, then he flipped them this week against the Liberty to see if Allen’s hot shooting could spark the starting lineup.

Both started Friday against the Dream as Ariel Atkins took a shot at filling the void at point guard left by Courtney Vandersloot’s season-ending injury. That shifted Rachel Banham, who ran the point against the Liberty, back to the second unit.

Nurse’s strength is her defensive intensity, and Allen is a career 36.2% three-point shooter. Regardless of how many minutes each gets, the Sky need both to bring their unique impact to the game.

“When there’s really, really good offensive players on the other team, you’ve got to use your physicality to throw them off their game a little bit,” Nurse said. “If I can get my opponent to worry about me instead of what’s happening in the game, then I’ve done a good job.”

Allen, meanwhile, has brought a much-needed boost to the offense as an outside shooter and slasher. And as a 10-year veteran playing on her fourth team, she takes any lineup-shuffling in stride.

“The biggest part of staying in the league is always being able to adjust and have versatility and not being bothered by anything like that,” she said. “There’s always been injuries and there’s changes in rotations, and I’ve gone from bench to starting and back, so this is no different than any other year I’ve played.”

Reese mastering matchups

Young players take time to adjust defensively because their opponents are much better, faster and stronger. They’re also unfamiliar.

With a year under her belt, Angel Reese feels like she’s learning their tendencies.

“I know my matchups,” she told the Sun-Times. “I know the things they like to do and the things that I know I can get away with.”

That improved feel has resulted in 1.6 steals per game, which ranks 13th in the league and is better than last year.

As a team, though, the defense continues to be a sore spot.

“We’ve done a decent job in our individual matchups,” Marsh said. “We’ve got to be a better team defense — being able to cover for each other, being able to be in our help spots at the right times.”

Watching closely

The Sky are keeping tabs on the Stanley Cup Final as Nurse’s brother, Darnell, is a defenseman for the Oilers. He scored a crucial goal in their Game 4 comeback against the Panthers to even the series at 2.

“It’s wild,” said Nurse, who mentioned that she gets peppered with texts from her teammates during games.

“It’s really fun to watch — quite nerve-racking. [Game 4] was insane.”

When the same teams played in the Final last season, a break in the Sky’s schedule allowed Nurse to fly to South Florida for Game 7. She’s not so fortunate this year but hasn’t missed a game on TV. The Sky play Tuesday, when the Oilers have Game 6, but if it goes seven, she’d be able to watch.