When Gabriela Jaquez heard her name called at No. 5 by the Chicago Sky, plenty of eyebrows were raised. Many felt she didn’t deserve to be picked that high, especially with talents like Flau’jae Johnson still available on the board. But the Sky front office believed Jaquez was the perfect culture and system fit for the franchise, and just a few games into her rookie campaign, she’s already making those doubters look foolish while even earning rave reviews from a veteran in the process.
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In the game against Lynx, the Chicago Sky lost top scorer Rickea Jackson midway through the second quarter to a non-contact knee injury, and replacing a player who was averaging 18 points per game was never going to be easy. But Gabriela Jaquez stepped up in a massive way, dropping a team-high 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting while adding eight rebounds to lead the Sky to an 86-79 win.
But it wasn’t just about the numbers, as Natasha Cloud also praised Gabriela Jaquez’s leadership and composure throughout the game. “I told little Uzi the last two games, ‘You’re not a rookie. Don’t come over here talking to me about a rookie.’ Uzi was leading half of our huddles tonight, reminding us what we were in defensively. It’s a testament to who she is as a player,” Cloud told the media. “Even when you don’t see it on the stat sheet, she impacts the game more than you know.”
Jaquez has always been a vocal player, even stepping up as a leader when things get difficult. Even with the Bruins, she was never the statistically best player on the squad, but owned the big moments. “Gabs was a very quiet leader by example, but now she’s using her voice,” Cori Close said last year.
This year, she led them to the National Championship while averaging 13.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. But the biggest statement came on the biggest stage, as she dropped a game-high 21 points against South Carolina in the big dance final, the kind of performance that tells you everything about her mentality as a player.
She is not afraid to speak up, even when surrounded by WNBA veterans like Courtney Vandersloot, Skylar Diggins, and Natasha Cloud, especially when the team needs someone to step up. Rickea Jackson’s injury is expected to be serious. When a teammate gets injured, it can shake players from their mental space. Jackson was in immense discomfort when she left the floor, but Jaquez made sure everyone was locked in.
It’s that quality and fit with the team that made them draft her. “She’s going to fit in seamlessly to basically the tail end of what we were able to do in free agency,” said Sky general manager Jeff Pagliocca. “She fits in with us athletically. How versatile she is, how selfless she is, the culture player that she’s referred to as.”
However, that does not change the fact that Rickea Jackson could miss extended time with her injury. And Natasha Cloud was having none of it from the referees.
Natasha Cloud Torches The Referees After Rickea Jackson Injury
Natasha Cloud was furious at the referees when Rickea Jackson went down. No foul was called, but Cloud believed one should have been. She was penalized with a technical for her protest. After the game, Cloud refused to back down from her attitude towards the referees, doubling down on the criticism.
“They failed to protect Rickea,” Cloud said. “They failed to control the game. I go up to them, I say, ‘The game’s getting a little out of control. You need to control it.’ The next possession we have hands all over Rickea, a push in her back, and we don’t know what’s going on with her.”
Player injuries and the referees have been topics of conversation since last season. However, with an emphasis on freedom of movement, there has been a drop in the allowed physicality this season. According to Cloud, the referees failed to uphold those standards on the day of the injury.
“Truthfully, I think it’s b*****,” Cloud further said. “Obviously, I needed to get a tech. A lot of people think I’m a crash out, but it was very intentional because I will be damned if a player gets hurt on our team (from) something that was controllable by the referees. That is a part of their job.”
With Jackson out, Chicago is struggling with depth. Replacing their top scorer will not be easy. Much like she did in this game, Jaquez will need to take her game to another level along with Skylar Diggins and Kamilla Cardoso.
