{"id":710770,"date":"2026-06-18T04:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T04:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/710770\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T04:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T04:24:08","slug":"sky-guard-sydney-taylor-met-the-moment-in-her-first-wnba-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/710770\/","title":{"rendered":"Sky guard Sydney Taylor met the moment in her first WNBA start"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sky<\/a> guard Sydney Taylor was flowing against the Fever last week.<\/p>\n

When defenders crowded her, she crossed over and accelerated past them. When they sat flat-footed, she sidestepped and rose for a three-pointer.<\/p>\n

By the time she was done, the undrafted rookie had scored 30 points in 21 minutes of an overtime loss \u2014 the highest-scoring game by a rookie this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I see one go through the hoop, the basket gets huge,\u201d Taylor told the Sun-Times on Monday. \u201cI feel like there isn\u2019t a shot I can\u2019t make.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor is a pure scorer, always hunting her shot. For a team starved for offense, her production \u2014 and her conviction that she belongs \u2014 demanded a bigger role. She earned her first career start Wednesday against the Liberty.<\/p>\n

She met the moment, leading the Sky with 24 points on 10-for-16 shooting, including a three-pointer that put them ahead by one with 15 seconds remaining. The Sky ultimately lost 96-95 after Taylor missed a contested jumper at the buzzer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re willing to take those shots, you gotta be willing to live with the result,\u201d Taylor said after the game. \u201cThat\u2019s a shot I\u2019m not scared of taking. It was a very tough shot. Maybe could\u2019ve gotten a better look, but I appreciate my teammates who…helped me keep my head up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her potential is clear, as are the ways she can improve. How far her ascent carries her will depend on how she handles a tension many young players face: staying true to herself while showing she can excel within a system.<\/p>\n

Learning to play within the system<\/p>\n

Less than a week before she torched the Fever, Taylor was in her head against the Sun.<\/p>\n

She had climbed the rotation, logging at least 20 minutes in four consecutive games. But she looked out of sorts against Connecticut, forcing a contested layup on her first touch and committing four turnovers in 13 minutes. She said later that she was playing scared to make mistakes.<\/p>\n

It was a departure from the confidence Taylor usually projects. After big games, she insists she isn\u2019t surprised by her success. She knew she would make it to the league. She knew her opportunity would come.<\/p>\n

But confidence doesn\u2019t eliminate fear, especially when minutes can disappear quickly. After the Sun game, Taylor barely played in the next two.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s also responding to limits placed on her in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my career, college career, I\u2019ve gotten in trouble just being too flashy or doing too much,\u201d she said. \u201cSo just trying to keep it simple, do the little things that will keep me on the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

For coach Tyler Marsh, one of those simple things is attacking the paint instead of settling for jump shots. Taylor knows she can fall in love with her jumper, and Marsh has pushed her to get downhill.<\/p>\n

Taylor is shooting just 28.6% from three-point range. Inside five feet, however, she\u2019s made 70.7% of her attempts \u2014 the best mark on the team.<\/p>\n

Taylor went 4-for-6 in the paint Wednesday, scoring twice in transition and adding a floater and a strong drive out of the pick-and-roll. She knows getting to the rim early can open her three-point shot later. Against the Liberty, it did.<\/p>\n

Marsh isn\u2019t trying to limit Taylor. In fact, he wants the offense to reflect her freewheeling style. But a more disciplined shot selection will help her grow.<\/p>\n

The veterans are believers<\/p>\n

During the scrimmage portion of practice Monday, Courtney Vandersloot fired a three-quarter-court pass to a streaking Taylor, who caught it in stride and laid it in.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer vision on the court is crazy,\u201d Taylor said of Vandersloot. \u201cI told her, I was like, \u2018I knew you saw me, so I\u2019m just waiting for you to get it to me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor was awestruck during her first training camp by the chance to play with Vandersloot and Skylar Diggins, two point guards she grew up watching.<\/p>\n

They quickly became believers in her. Diggins told the Sun-Times on Sunday that Taylor would one day start in the WNBA \u2014 and that day came quickly. Vandersloot said Taylor has the tools to become an elite scorer.<\/p>\n

She also reminds Taylor that fully establishing herself will take time \u2014 and plenty of trial and error.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just have to play and get reps at it,\u201d Vandersloot said. \u201cOne day it looks really good and it\u2019s easy, and then the very next day it doesn\u2019t. You have to figure out what works.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd all of a sudden, now she\u2019s on everybody\u2019s scouting report. They\u2019re going to play different coverages with her now. All of that she has to learn. It\u2019s about getting reps. It\u2019s about getting comfortable. It\u2019s about staying true to yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Taylor rewatched the Fever game, she noticed Vandersloot going crazy on the bench after one of her baskets. She clipped the reaction and texted it to Vandersloot, telling her how much it meant.<\/p>\n

That validation eases some of the pressure to prove she fits. It reminds Taylor that she already does.<\/p>\n

Will she keep the role?<\/p>\n

Taylor hasn\u2019t hidden the fact that she craves a bigger role.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s a strong, simple case for keeping her in the starting lineup. The Sky have one of the worst offenses in the league, and Taylor is already among their best scorers. The offense popped with her on the floor against the Liberty, and she complements Diggins by providing another long-range threat.<\/p>\n

But that isn\u2019t the full picture. The Sky want to anchor their identity defensively, and their most urgent weakness is rebounding.<\/p>\n

Taylor has flashed the ability to defend but hasn\u2019t yet consistently produced the winning plays \u2014 deflections, steals and ball pressure \u2014 that Gabriela Jaquez, Jacy Sheldon and Natasha Cloud provide. She also averages only one rebound per game.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Taylor\u2019s role will depend on what she offers when her shots aren\u2019t falling. It also will depend on whether Marsh gives her room for the trial and error Vandersloot described.<\/p>\n

Marsh faces his own version of Taylor\u2019s challenge: trusting her through the mistakes without squashing what makes her special. If he can, he may end up with a much stronger system on his hands. <\/p>\n

NotesThe WNBA announced that it will expand its regular-season schedule to 50 games in 2027, up from 44 this season. That is the maximum allowed under the new collective bargaining agreement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sky guard Sydney Taylor was flowing against the Fever last week. When defenders crowded her, she crossed over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":710771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-710770","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\/710770","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=710770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/710771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=710770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=710770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=710770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}