'Greatest shooter to touch a basketball': Allie Quigley’s No. 14 retired by Chicago Sky

“Who doesn’t know A Quigs?”

A common statement from fans, players, staff and media members throughout Wintrust Arena on July 9 - the day that the Chicago Sky retired Allie Quigley’s No. 14, making her the first Sky player to have a jersey retired.

Quigley’s career spans 14 seasons with 10 of them in a Sky uniform. 

“She’s a legendary figure in this game and for this city,” Tyler Marsh said before the game.

As you walked into Wintrust, the seats were covered in Quigley towels. The LED boards read ‘Allie Quigley Retirement Ceremony’. Even by the locker rooms, there’s photos of Quigley from her days of playing at DePaul under coach Doug Bruno.

“If you look at how we play the game now and the players that just strictly shoot 3s almost as well as Allie, I think that you can see [her impact],” Sky player development coach David Simon said.

From a statistical standpoint, Quigley holds Sky records for most 3-pointers (504) and 3-point attempts (1,275). She was just passed by her wife - whom she met playing for the Sky - Courtney Vandersloot earlier this season in field goals. 

“I’m getting chills now just talking about it, but there’s true love of not just the city and the team but the space she’s in and all that [Allie and Sloot] have accomplished together. She’s not only a great basketball player but one of the best humans,” Sky vice president of basketball operations Ann Crosby said.

Quigley also won four 3-point contests, the only player in both the WNBA and NBA to accomplish such a feat with that fourth one being right here in Chicago in what would be her last season in 2022.

“The greatest shooter to ever touch a basketball, NBA or WNBA,” Sky emcee Shaun Redwell said. “How do you compete with a 4-time 3-point champion, an All Star, a WNBA Champion, a leader, a scorer, everything you need in a basketball player.”

Her work ethic never went unnoticed whether she started or came off the bench. It notched her two Sixth Player of the Year awards in her career, but many may not understand the caliber of effort she put into that lethal jumpshot.

“No one knows how hard she works, because she makes it look so easy,” Crosby said. “She would just outwork people to achieve what she needed to achieve, whether it’s coming back from a knee issue or being in a slump and still shooting. To me, there isn’t a harder worker out there.”

Anyone who had the task of guarding Quigley felt what work led to on any given night, including current Sky guard Rachel Banham.

“I had to guard her and it was awful,” Banham said laughing. “I told her that when I met her when I came here and said, ‘It was so hard to guard you.’ She just never stops moving and she never gets tired.”

Quigley practiced how she played, putting all the effort and attention to detail in the gym, ranging from footwork to even how the net would fall after a made shot.

“It was me, Allie and Sloot in the gym," Simon said. “We were shooting, and I was rebounding. They were making so many shots, and Allie was swishing so many shots that the net kept flipping up onto the rim every time. Lot of shooters don’t like when the net is up, and I was told very quickly to make sure that I get the net down.”

Although Sky fans won’t see another Quigley jumper fall through the twine again, they will see that No. 14 hanging in the rafters of Wintrust Arena next to that 2021 WNBA Champions banner.

And everyone will forever know who A Quigs is.