Courtney Vandersloot "was back like she never left", according to coach Tyler Marsh, following the Chicago Sky point guard's long-awaited return from injury.

Sky defeated Portland Fire 124-94 in what was Vandersloot's first appearance since suffering a torn ACL in her right knee during the early stages of last season.

Kamilla Cardoso played a starring role – shooting 13 for 13 from the field, and scoring a career-high 30 points – while Vandersloot chipped in with 10 points.

And Marsh was thrilled at the way the latter quickly settled back into her rhythm, as Chicago narrowly missed out on the WNBA record for most points scored by a team in regulation time (125).

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"She was back tonight like she never left," he said. "You could tell she was back in her happy place. It took all of about 15 seconds for her to yell at one of her team-mates to get where they were supposed to be.

"It's obviously been a rough part of the season, so to have nights like tonight, I think that it's something that [our team] deserves for the work that they put in."

"I want to play fast, selfless," Vandersloot added. "The open player gets the ball. We have a lot of threats. But we all need to do our job for it to look right.

"[We’re at our best when we're] focused on details and playing with pace, good to great, all of those things. It sounds like a bunch of cliches, which it is, but that’s what a good offense looks like.

"We have a lot of good weapons, and when we play to their strengths, then these kinds of nights can happen. This was a really good one for us, a really good momentum-shifter. I think we know our identity and can build off this."