The Sky will play the Dream for the second time in eight days at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Wintrust Arena.
They have four games left before the WNBA All-Star break, which immediately will be followed by the Olympic break, and are one game ahead of the Dream in the battle for the eighth and final playoff spot.
‘‘We know them fairly well from having a week or so between [our last game against them],’’ Sky coach Teresa Weatherspoon said. ‘‘There aren’t many changes that will be made as long as we come out and execute our defensive plan and are really sharp offensively.’’
In the Sky’s 85-77 victory July 2 in Atlanta, they scored 22 points off turnovers. Chennedy Carter and Lindsay Allen led the Sky with two steals apiece.
Carter also went off for a game-high 26 points. Her ability to get to the rim helped the Sky outscore the Dream 44-36 in the paint. The Sky’s bench also outscored the Dream’s reserves 29-17, with guard Dana Evans leading the second unit with 14 points.
While the Sky might not have many adjustments to make, expect the Dream to make some changes, specifically when it comes to defending Carter. They were unprepared for her explosiveness last week.
‘‘I can take a lot of [blame] in terms of I probably should have changed some things up defensively,’’ Dream coach Tanisha Wright said after the game last week. ‘‘Especially when Carter was just putting her head down and going.’’
The Dream will be without guard Jordin Canada, who was ruled out until after the Olympic break after suffering a broken finger June 30 against the Liberty. She finished with 11 points and seven assists last week against the Sky despite playing with the injury. The team signed guard Destanni Henderson to a seven-day contract Friday.
In terms of the playoff race, the Dream are a threat to the Sky making their sixth consecutive postseason appearance. The game takes on added importance, given the WNBA’s tiebreaker rules.
The WNBA’s tiebreakers for playoff eligibility and homecourt advantage start with which team has the better record in head-to-head games. Next, the league looks at which team has a better record against teams with .500-or-better records. If necessary, the league then goes to point differential.
The Sky and Dream are 1-1 in head-to-head matchups going into the game Wednesday. They will play each other one more time during the regular season, Sept. 17 in Atlanta.
After they play the Dream, two games against the Liberty and one against the Aces will be all that remain for the Sky before the All-Star and Olympic breaks. After that, the Sky will return Aug. 15 against Kahleah Copper and the Mercury.
‘‘We recognize what the schedule looks like,’’ Weatherspoon said of the Sky’s remaining games before the break. ‘‘That schedule is tough. So we want to get the one that’s in front of us and then move to the next one.’’
