Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud was not happy with the officiating after their 86-79 win over the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday.
The referees, she said, “failed to protect Rickea.”
Sky star Rickea Jackson went down in the second quarter while driving to the basket after her left leg awkwardly gave out. She crumpled to the ground and remained there for several minutes before finally leaving for the locker room.
The team quickly ruled her out the rest of the way. Specifics aren’t yet known, but head coach Tyler Marsh said she is expected to undergo further testing in the near future.
“She’s in good spirits,” Marsh said, via ESPN. “We’re waiting to evaluate everything, but she was proud of the team for continuing to fight while she was out.”
Cloud, however, blamed the officials. She thought that the contact Lynx forward Nia Coffey made with Jackson right before she went down was worthy of a foul, though it wasn’t called. She was called for a technical foul in the moment for yelling at them, too.
“On top of the points of emphasis that were emphasized at the beginning of the season, their ultimate job is to control and protect the players in this game,” Cloud said. “And I think that this group today failed to do so. … Truthfully, I think it’s bulls***.
“You can be mad at me if you want to, but I’ll be damned if we keep getting players hurt in this league on any team because we refuse to control the game.”
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Jackson had six points and a rebound when she went down on Sunday at the Target Center. Cloud finished with 11 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds.
While it’s unclear how long Jackson will be sidelined, she is just the latest Sky player to be dealing with an injury already this season. Skylar Diggins missed Sunday’s game with an eye injury, and Azura Stevens, DiJonai Carrington and Courtney Vandersloot have yet to make their season debuts due to respective injuries.
Despite that, the Sky have won three of their first four games to start the season. They’ll host the Dallas Wings next on Wednesday in their home opener at Wintrust Arena.
