On Friday night, while the Sky faced off against the Valkyries in Ballhalla, Angel Reese was etching her name deeper into WNBA history. In a five-point 83-78 loss to the Golden State Valkyries, Reese’s relentlessness turned a forgettable team performance into an unforgettable personal milestone. Her 17-point, 18-rebound performance didn’t just keep the Sky close — it marked the latest chapter in one of the league’s most historic two-game stretches.

And if you think this was just another flashy double-double? Think again.

The numbers alone tell a story most players dream of. Reese became the first player in WNBA history to record 35 points, 35 rebounds, and 8 assists over any two-game span. She’s pulled down 111 rebounds in June alone, 32 more than the next closest player who is rookie Kiki Iriafen of the Washington Mystics. And with 185 total rebounds in just 15 games, she leads the entire league by a wide margin. No other player this season has logged multiple 15+ rebound games. Reese has done it three games in a row.

Friday’s loss to the Valkyries only amplified her growing legend. Kayla Thornton dropped a career-high 29 points, and Golden State sealed it late at the free-throw line. But Reese almost stole it. With just over a minute left, she snagged an offensive board and finished through contact, cutting the lead to four. Seconds later, she repeated the act — another offensive rebound, another bucket. It wasn’t enough to win. But it was more than enough to notice, especially with the Sky’s backcourt kinda feeling empty without Kamilla Cardoso in the lineup. 

“She’s 1 of 1,” DraftKings posted soon after the game.

Yes, Angel did make a few bad plays, especially with 2 of her fouls late in the game, but still, it shows all the heart she put into the game. Still, not all the attention around Reese has been flattering.

Angel Reese Takes Back ‘Mebound’ with Rebounds

The now-infamous term “mebound” — coined online as a dig at her tendency to rebound her own missed shots — has hounded her since her rookie year. The word exploded in popularity after a viral clip of Reese missing and rebounding four straight times in the Sky’s May 22 home opener. But rather than shy away, Reese leaned in — and trademarked it.

“Whoever came up with the ‘mebounds’ thing, y’all ate that up,” she joked in a TikTok posted the same day she filed the application. “Because rebounds, mebounds, kebounds, tebounds — anything that comes off that board, it’s mine.”

That ownership of the narrative, of her game, of the paint — is what’s come to define Reese’s rise.

The truth, of course, is more complex than a viral nickname. In the first 10 games of the season, just 15.1% of her rebounds came off her own misses — 18 out of 119 total. Even without them, she would still rank top three in the league. And that rate is dropping fast.  What’s more telling is where she still struggles — and how hard she’s working to fix it.

Reese is shooting just 42.6% in the paint (restricted area), down from 47% last year, far lower than the 65–80% range for most WNBA bigs. But her accuracy in the paint in the non-restricted area has become better; in 2025, she had 36.5 %  up from 17.1% in 2024.  She knows it. And she’s doing the work.

“I haven’t shot the ball as well as I wanted to,” Reese told the Chicago Tribune. But she’s not just aiming to improve — she wants to be unstoppable. Earlier this season, in a postgame presser, she made it clear: “I just wanna be unstoppable. I wanna get to a point where it’s hard to guard me because they have to guard the pass.” And day by day, she’s working to make that a reality.

After practice, she watches a film. She is getting mentored by WNBA greats like Lisa Leslie while running drills to become more efficient. She trains against padded defenders, practicing finishes through contact. The goal isn’t just to clean up the “mebound” narrative — it’s to unlock a version of herself that doesn’t have to rebound her own misses to dominate.

And while the finishing hasn’t caught up yet, her overall game is evolving. In a recent win over the Sun, Reese recorded her first career triple-double — 13 rebounds, 11 assists, 2-of-7 shooting — showcasing a “point forward” style that’s quickly becoming a defining feature of her second season. She’s nearly doubled her assists per game from 1.9 to 3.6 while becoming a more intentional, patient presence on the court.

Still, Reese’s individual excellence is happening amid a broader collapse in Chicago. The Sky entered that Valkyries matchup 4–10, with all four wins coming against bottom-of-the-table teams like Connecticut, Dallas, and the LA Sparks. They don’t shoot enough threes, they turn the ball over at alarming rates, and their system — built around two non-shooting bigs — hasn’t delivered the offensive punch it promised.

Kamilla Cardoso missed Friday’s game with an overseas commitment. Kia Nurse added 17 points, and Ariel Atkins had 20. But Reese — once again — carried the weight, in every sense.

And that’s what makes this stretch so defining. Reese is putting up all kinds of records, but her team aint winning. 

Thats why, Reese and co. will need to get their act in order if they want to make it to the playoffs.