Allie Quigley scores 22 to help Sky beat Liberty in home opener

Allie Quigley scored 15 of her 22 points in the fourth quarter to help the Sky beat the New York Liberty 80-76 on Sunday night.

It was the Sky’s first game at the new Wintrust Arena.

“Allie did a number, and I made sure the hardwood felt her presence,” Sky general manager and coach Amber Stocks said. “It was a great way to christen Wintrust Arena.”

Quigley made 2-of-3 free throws and Diamond DeShields hit a 3-pointer to spark an 8-2 spurt that made it 68-64 with six minutes to play, and the Sky (2-0) led the rest of the way. New York (0-1) trimmed its deficit to one point on four occasions, the last of which came when Tina Charles’ jumper made it 74-73 with three minutes to go. Quigley answered with two free throws before Cheyenne Parker’s offensive rebound and put-back pushed the lead back to five.

“I think I want to be aggressive all the time, it just happened to be in the fourth quarter this time,” Quigley said. “We talked about it in the locker room that we had 20 assists on 30 field goals, so the ball was moving and my teammates were finding me, so that’s [a good thing].”

Jamierra Faulkner had 14 points, five rebounds and five assists. Gabby Williams, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2018 WNBA draft, scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting for the Sky.

“We’ve got to hit shots. They hit shots, and we didn’t,” Liberty coach Katie Smith said. “That was honestly the biggest thing. We’ve got to make them more uncomfortable, but they shot at 46, almost 47 percent, and we shot at like 37. So again, we’ve got to take good shots and then make them.”

Charles led New York with 19 points. Rookie Kia Nurse added 17 and Amanda Zahui B scored 15.

The Sky are 2-0 for the first time since 2014.