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Sky-Silver Stars Preview

Jul 2, 2009 - 5:39 PM By DAN PIERINGER STATS Writer

Chicago (6-3) at San Antonio (3-4), 8:00 p.m. EDT

The Chicago Sky haven't looked dominant during their current winning streak, but there's no arguing with the results.

After a late surge by Jia Perkins helped them extend their streak, the Sky look to set a franchise record with their fourth straight victory and move four games above .500 for the first time in club history as they visit the San Antonio Silver Stars on Friday night.

Chicago (6-3) has won three straight games for the second time this season, putting the club in position for the first four-game winning streak in its four-year history.

The Sky have looked far from unstoppable during their run, trailing in the fourth quarter of each game and winning by an average margin of 2.7 points. However, second-year coach Steven Key is more than pleased with the way his club has been able to pull out hard-fought wins.

Perkins scored eight of her 17 points Tuesday night in the final 90 seconds to help Chicago rally to beat Sacramento 74-72. A 9-0 run in the final minutes helped the Sky improve to 5-0 at home and become the second Eastern Conference team to reach six wins, joining Indiana.

"We were the aggressor, we were taking it to them while earlier they were taking it to us," said Key, whose team needed 19 games to reach six wins last season. "(And) anytime you can get people to do something spectacular, it raises the level. They're capable of doing it and we just have to make sure we have them out there at the right opportunity to get that done."

Like the Sky, the Silver Stars (3-4) have been significantly better at home than on the road. Their 3-0 start at AT&T Center came to an end Tuesday night, however, with an 84-82 loss to Washington.

Sophia Young had 21 points and four steals, and fellow All-Star Becky Hammon added 18 points and five assists as San Antonio recorded its second-highest point total of the season. It came in a losing effort, though, as the Silver Stars allowed the Mystics to shoot 51.7 percent from the field - the best shooting performance against them this season.

"We shot the ball well enough to win that game," Hammon said after San Antonio shot 47.5 percent overall and made 10 of 24 3-point attempts (41.7 percent). "We scored 82 points. That's enough points to win a basketball game. The problem was our defense. We didn't get consecutive stops."

The Silver Stars hope to bounce back against a Sky team they didn't have problems stopping last season. San Antonio swept the 2008 season series, winning 75-67 at Chicago and 78-67 at home.

Hammon led the Silver Stars with 17.6 points per game overall in 2008, was held to 13.0 while shooting 34.8 percent from the field against the Sky.

Chicago forward Candice Dupree averaged 16.5 points and 9.0 rebounds in last season's series.