{"id":35359,"date":"2025-07-25T03:39:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T03:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/35359\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T03:39:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T03:39:07","slug":"marquesha-davis-showed-one-thing-the-sky-are-short-on-even-without-the-injuries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/35359\/","title":{"rendered":"Marquesha Davis showed one thing the Sky are short on, even without the injuries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marquesha Davis only played a brief stint in Thursday\u2019s uncompetitive loss to the Storm \u2014 but it spoke volumes about what the Sky<\/a> are missing.<\/p>\n

Signed to a seven-day hardship deal on Tuesday<\/a>, the second-year guard made her Sky debut in the team\u2019s 95-to-57 loss. And while she didn\u2019t score in her first run, her burst and bounce were a reminder: the Sky don\u2019t have many guards like her.<\/p>\n

Davis checked in midway through the second quarter and wasted no time attacking. On her first offensive possession, she beat her defender and missed a layup that Kamilla Cardoso cleaned up for a putback. The next time down, she grabbed a rebound, pushed in transition, and pulled up for a confident jumper \u2014 which rimmed out.<\/p>\n

She finished the quarter 0-for-4, but it was an active, productive 0-for-4 \u2014 not bad for someone who just met the team two days earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s got a great level of athleticism that we can use,\u201d head coach Tyler Marsh said before the game. \u201cHer strength is her ability to get into the paint and to play off of closeouts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis was waived by the Liberty earlier this month after being drafted No. 11 overall in 2024. But when she arrived at her first Sky practice, the whole team shouted \u201cMarquesha!\u201d \u2014 even if they got the pronunciation slightly wrong. (It\u2019s Mar-kwee-sha, not Mar-key-sha.) They\u2019ve been helping her get settled ever since.<\/p>\n

Davis is only on a seven-day contract, but her debut offered a glimpse of what the Sky might want to target in free agency: an explosive guard. Most of their backcourt leans on spot-up shooting, and they rarely generate easy points in transition. That\u2019s contributed to a stagnant offense. Marsh said the team is frustrated with the lack of movement \u2014 though injuries to key playmakers are a big part of it, too.<\/p>\n

Reese sits, Sky down to nine<\/p>\n

Angel Reese was ruled out before tipoff after being listed as questionable with back tightness. Marsh said the issue flared up during Tuesday\u2019s game against the Lynx. Reese had already been managing leg discomfort since late June and logging heavy minutes in that stretch.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe wants to be at 100%,\u201d Marsh said. \u201cIt\u2019s tough going through the ups and downs of the season \u2014 whether it\u2019s injury or wins and losses \u2014 but she\u2019s a fighter. She\u2019ll continue to work through and battle back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guards Ariel Atkins (leg) and Michaela Onyenwere (knee) also sat out. Both dressed for shootaround, and Marsh said they\u2019re progressing, though Atkins is expected to miss at least one more game.<\/p>\n

That left the Sky with just nine available players.<\/p>\n

Next up \u2014 ready or not<\/p>\n

Injuries have fast-tracked minutes for rookies Hailey Van Lith and Maddy Westbeld, who were expected to spend the season developing behind veterans. Van Lith, in particular, has seen her role expand.<\/p>\n

She barely touched the floor in the five-game stretch before the break. But she\u2019s played 20-plus minutes in each of the last two and averaged 7.5 points.<\/p>\n

Westbeld has been easing into the rotation since late June. Drafted for her shooting, she\u2019s hit a 3-pointer in back-to-back games. She\u2019s also drawn praise from teammates and coaches for her rebounding \u2014 a key need with Reese out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marquesha Davis only played a brief stint in Thursday\u2019s uncompetitive loss to the Storm \u2014 but it spoke…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-35359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}