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Cucurella: Spain Reaping Rewards Of Outsider Tag
Chicago Sky rookie sensation Angel Reese made WNBA history on Sunday when she recorded her 13th consecutive double-double, a new league record, in her team's 84-71 loss to the Seattle Storm.
With 17 points and 14 rebounds in the contest, Reese surpassed the W's previous record of 12 consecutive double-doubles, accomplished by all-time great Candace Parker across the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
"I'm just trying to be consistent for my teammates, doing whatever I can to help my team," Reese said. "I think I didn't do enough tonight, but just being able to be there for my teammates and knowing that I have a job to do every day no matter if I'm a rookie or a vet."
"It's absolutely amazing to see," first-year head coach Teresa Weatherspoon said of Reese's feat. "She might be surprising herself, but she's not surprising me. It's something that she can do because it's something that she puts the work in to be able to do. And it's a will and want-to... it's awesome to see the work that you have to put in to be able to do this."
Reese also reached the 275-point, 225-rebound and 30-steal threshold in just 20 games. Only Yolanda Griffith (19 in 1999) recorded such numbers in fewer games.
Reese now has 14 double-doubles on the season, tied for fifth-most all time for a rookie. The double-double record for a first-year player is 22 by Tina Charles.
"It's great for me, being able to know where I'm at right now and obviously I'm not satisfied where I'm at," Reese said. "I have coaches and teammates around me that believe in me and trust me and I just continue to just trust the process of everything. I'm grateful. I'm blessed and lucky to be named with these amazing players. They've always been super nice to me. They've always been helpful and inspiring to me. I've watched them all my life and finally to be here in this moment and break their records and being able to be up there with them is really cool."
Parker -- who played two seasons for Reese's Sky and led them to the franchise's only title in 2021 -- was a legend the rookie has long admired and looked to model her game after. Reese said she has also developed a relationship with Parker's mother.
"To continue to be named with her, I want to win and being able to come out and come to Chicago and rep her city and bring a championship home is going to be what's important for me and what I look forward to," Reese said of Parker.
Reese shot 8-for-15 from the floor on Sunday; though she struggled at moments earlier this season with her efficiency, she has shot at least 50% from the floor in six of Chicago's past 11 games.
"It's a level of confidence to do way more than what people think she can," Weatherspoon said of Reese's in-season improvement. "She's able to trust herself, trust her training, shoot the ball when she's open and believing and trusting that she can make those shots because when you put the work in, there's no reason not to trust your training. And she's doing that.
"She has gotten really, really good at finishing around the rim, getting our offensive rebounds and putbacks or just simply getting positioned in our offensive sets and just finishing and finishing with power around the rim. So it's really, really good to see. She's only going to get better as we move forward."
Reese -- the No. 7 draft pick following a standout career at Maryland and LSU, where she won the national title in 2023 -- joined Caitlin Clark last week as the only rookies to be named 2024 All-Stars. The pair, front-runners in the Rookie of the Year race, will be teammates on Team WNBA and take on the U.S. Olympic squad in the WNBA All-Star Game later this month.
"It's a joy to watch," teammate Marina Mabrey said of Reese. "She's so consistent. She comes in every day and battles and fights and she's super physical for a rookie, which is really hard to do. That's usually one of the biggest transitions and she kind of just jumped in there and did all the dirty work, and now it's all paying off for her. And this is just the beginning, so I'm excited to see where it goes."
With Sunday's loss, the Sky fall to eighth in the standings but remain in the playoff picture.
