After missing the Sky’s previous four games due to health and safety protocols, Chennedy Carter made an impressive return for Chicago on Friday night.

Carter, the Sky’s leading scorer at 17.1 points per game, flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 15 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists in the team’s 92-78 win over the visiting Los Angeles Sparks.

“I feel good,” Carter said. “It’s nice to just get up and lay down, get my legs back under me and be out there with the girls. It was definitely fun.”

Chicago snapped a seven-game losing streak and remained in eighth place in hopes of securing the final spot in the league’s playoffs.

Carter last appeared in a game on August 25, but showed little sign of rust. Her 15 points (on 6 of 15 shooting) were second-most on the Sky, while her team-high seven dimes were a season record. She also finished with zero turnovers.

“I’m just trying to learn how to beat my teammates,” Carter said. “I think we have a lot of special weapons that we haven’t even unlocked yet, and so just playing with them, seeing where they’re going to go, ultimately unlocks my game. I’m not a guy who always has to have the ball, so I can play against other people, and we’ll see.”

Carter’s return to the lineup helped unlock a Sky offense that had struggled mightily in her absence. Chicago’s 92 points were the most since it scored 93 against Las Vegas in its final game before the Olympics. In its four games without Carter, the Sky has topped 80 points only once.

Their 24 assists against the Sparks were also their third of the season.

“That kind of energy is contagious,” coach Teresa Weatherspoon said of Carter. “It gives everybody an extra boost. She does an incredible job of getting to the rim, breaking down defenses and giving our players easy access to the rim, easy buckets at the rim, easy buckets just standing there and shooting. She makes life a little bit easier with the attention she draws.”

Carter received a standing ovation from the Chicago crowd as she stepped out of the competition for the final time.

“To me, it means a lot. I’ve never been in this place, at this point in my career, I don’t think I’ve ever been,” Carter said. “So to feel that from not only our fans, but from my teammates, my coaches, it makes me feel loved, it makes me feel appreciated. It’s an amazing feeling.”

While both the Sky and Atlanta Dream have identical 12-22 records, Chicago currently holds the tiebreaker, as it is 2-1 in the head-to-head (the teams last met on September 17). The Washington Mystics are one game behind.

“The seven-game losing streak was tough,” said Angel Reese, who had her 26th double-double of the season with a team-best 24 points and 12 rebounds. “I think we learned a lot about ourselves. Pressure breaks pipes, and I think we came together and fought for this game tonight.”

Weatherspoon added: “We talked about it in the dressing room, this is your last game ever. You give it everything you’ve got, you leave it all on the pitch. And they did that… and that’s how we’re going to approach every game (from now on).”

The loss makes the Sparks the first team eliminated from the playoffs.