Friday WNBA links: Chicago Sky stage comeback without Elena Delle Donne, MVP rankings, and the value of veteran leadership

There was only one game last night, meaning there weren't a whole lot of new WNBA stories out there on the interwebs.

So I'm going to start with a quote from the Chicago Sky's 79-66 comeback win in Seattle last night that describes that stood out about Epiphanny Prince, who scored 12 of her 16 points during a huge 32-6 fourth quarter.

"We were talking to her about her body language," Sky coach Pokey Chatman said after the game via a Seattle Storm release. "She was playing slow. I told her she looked like a rookie. She didn't know where she wanted to go. I told her we trust her; we have confidence in her and she knows what to do. We really started to put the ball in her hands in the middle third (of the floor) to give her a little more space and vision. She's a scorer, and she dialed it up."

Without rambling on, that sounds a lot like what some of us have been saying all season about the All-Star and when she's playing the way she was during the fourth quarter there's just not much anyone can do to stop this team.

Anyway, without further ado, the links.

How bout @Sloot22 and the Sky coming up big at Storm last night w/out EDD. Court had big night! Lots of Zag fans there

— Kelly Graves (@kgzag) August 16, 2013

• Jayda Evans of the Seattle Times began her recap by focusing on Prince, but also noted Kent, WA native Courtney Vandersloot's role in the win: a big jumper with 3:01 left seemed to deflate the Storm and she had an extremely efficient 8 assists to just 1 turnover (14.44 pure point rating) to help direct the Sky in Elena Delle Donne's absence. Read more >>>

• Aaron Lommers of the Everett Herald reports that Storm coach Brian Agler wasn't upset with his team after the poor fourth quarter performance from his veteran team. "Why should I be upset? We've got a long season and we stay on an even keel. We are going to talk about it and we are going to learn from it and we will learn from our mistakes, but I'm not going to be upset with them." Read more >>>

• Christian Mordi of Slam Online posted his latest WNBA MVP rankings yesterday with Candace Parker atop the list, but Tamika Catchings moving up to number two. Without revealing who I think should be MVP, I will note that Catchings is eighth in the league in plus/minus while leading her team in points, free throw percentage, and steals as well as second on her team in assists and rebounds. Not bad. Read more >>>

• John Focke and I discussed the 2013 WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year award on the Lynx Unleashed podcast the other day. I didn't apologize for Monica Wright's absence from my early-season list - I just follow the numbers - but I did laugh at it as I looked back on those numbers during the call. But mostly, I shared why I think Wright is a strong candidate for the award now. Listen here >>>

• Kelly Parsons of the Star Tribune reports that Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve also finds the presence of a certain veteran to be "an invaluable treasure": All-Star forward Rebekkah Brunson. "She only knows one way, which is to go really, really hard and play with a great deal of passion. And that’s contagious." And aside from just having passion she's productive, with the fifth-best offensive rebounding percentage (11.4%) in the Western Conference entering this week according to National Sports Rankings). Read more >>>

• Marc Allard of the Norwich Bulletin wrote on Wednesday about the the impact of veterans in the WNBA, through the lens of the absences of Asjha Jones and Kara Lawson for the Connecticut Sun. Contrary to the Albert Lee Treadmill Philosophy, Sun coach Anne Donovan also believes the league is still won by veteran play. Read more >>>

• Allard also offers more on Connecticut Sun rookie Kelly Faris, who is expected to start her second game tonight against the Atlanta Dream. Mistie Bass said what most of us thought about Faris as a draft prospect: "She’s very smart, very aggressive, she will make whoever is in front of her work hard. She has a lot of poise for a rookie, doesn’t try to rush or force anything or try to be more than what she is. She just is Kelly Faris." Read more >>>

• Chiney Ogwumike has posted a No Days Off video, but I have to say that Stephen Curry still owns the #NoDaysOff title with his Vine from a Zumba class (watch that ankle though, son!) and his first one showing him working on jab steps and pump fakes around the house. I would however rank Ogwumike's entry as better than Javale McGee's submission. Read more >>>

• Pete Spitler of the Southern Illinoisian writes that despite gains in women's sports and players like Brittney Griner becoming household names, "Sixty percent of women’s teams in the NCAA are now coached by men. In 1972, 90 percent of women’s teams had female coaches...the recent trends are disturbing and may discourage women from pursuing coaching or high levels of athletic leadership." Do you see this as a problem? If so, what can be done to correct for it? Read more >>>

Obviously, there might be other information out there that you'd probably like to share so feel free to drop your favorite links in the comments or create a fanshot. If you have a longer commentary to share with the community, write up a fanpost.