During the pre-game practice against the Indiana Fever in June, Sika Kone won $50 after winning the 3-point contest against her teammates. While Angel Reese was not happy about losing, her love for Kone played out like a friendship tale on camera. She was happy for her teammate, even when she lost. On Saturday, when Sika Kone-led Mali team shocked Spain in Berlin, Reese was the first one to celebrate her WNBA teammate.
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“Don’t play with Sika My Queen!” Reese wrote in her post on X right after Mali shocked one of the best teams in the world.
Kone scored a team-high 19 points, tied with Djeneba N’Diaye. The Mali forward played an almost perfect offensive game, shooting 7-of-9 from the field, including 3-of-4 from the deep. The Dream star also added 10 rebounds, recording her back-to-back double in the win.
Mali lost to Japan in their tournament opener. But a team that had won just one game in FIBA World Cup history showed some promise. On Saturday, Kone and Co. recorded their second-ever win, and their first since 2010, in the first stunner of this tournament, and the Atlanta Dream player led her team from the front.
Mali took a two-point lead after the first period. Spain responded in the second quarter and took a two-point lead going into halftime. However, Mali’s retaliation in the third quarter proved to be the game decider. They outscored Spain by 31-19 in the third period, which included a 16-4 run and the world No. 6 couldn’t come up with a dominant response in the closing quarter, losing the contest by 82-73.
While Kone represents her country at the international stage and plays professional basketball in America, she has spent most of her life playing in Spain. She is well aware of the depth that one of the best European teams has, which makes the win pretty special.
“To be able to win against Spain is everything. I mean, we are not surprised because we are all professional players. So, we just have to continue to believe in what Coach told us and stay with that,” she told reporters after the win.
Mali’s starters upped their game in their second contest of the tournament. Kone and N’Diaye led with 19 points. Alima Dembele added 11 points and Rokia Doumbia excelled in her playmaker’s role, stacking a game-high 9 assists alongwith 2 steals. As a team, Mali shot 50% from the field, and 40.9% from the deep. Their second game of the tournament reflected their lesson from the first game.
“In yesterday’s game [against Japan], we were up for most of the game, most of the time,” Kone said about the loss to Japan on Friday. “We lost, we were a little bit down, but we tried to encourage each other to come back stronger.”
During the loss to Japan, Mali led the game for over 30 minutes. They even had a five-point lead with just over seven minutes remaining in the game. However, Japan attacked their defense in the remaining time with a historic offensive numbers.
Both Mali (Group A) and USA (Group D) currently lead their respective groups. This means that the Atlanta Dream teammates are not scheduled to play before the knockout stage. But if/when they do, don’t expect Reese to go soft on Kone.
Reese is her team’s leading rebounder and so is Kone. In Team USA’s first game against China, Reese recorded 5 points and led her team with 9 rebounds. Watching two WNBA teammates show off their high motors would be a fun sight, especially for the Atlanta Dream fans.
