Terp Alumna Saylor Poffenbarger Gearing Up For Her First WNBA Regular Season Game
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On Wednesday, the Chicago Sky signed former Maryland Terrapins guard Saylor Poffenbarger to a hardship contract. Why the sudden move by Chicago?
Saylor Poffenbarger has signed with the @chicagosky! #ProTerps x #faMily 🐢 pic.twitter.com/sFJbZ9j51z
— Maryland Women’s Basketball (@TerpsWBB) May 27, 2026
Offseason acquisition Rickea Jackson sustained a season-ending ACL injury back on the 17th against the Minnesota Lynx after landing awkwardly on a drive to the basket.
2026 lottery pick Gabriella Jaquez has recently missed some time due to a left injury sustained.
Putting Chicago in a tough and thin situation in its back court. Veterans Courtney Vandersloot and DiJonai Carrington are still out with season-ending injuries from a season ago. Leaving Natasha Cloud, Jacy Sheldon, and Skylar Diggins manning the bulk of the minutes.
Now, Poffenbarger has a real opportunity to carve out a role and showcase her two-way ability, with the intention of possibly sticking around for the long term or joining another team after Chicago gets healthy once again.
Poffenbarger went undrafted in the 2026 WNBA draft.
However, she found an opportunity, signing a training camp contract with the Minnesota Lynx shortly after the draft. Poffenbarger averaged 5.7 points, 6 rebounds, and one block per game during the preseason. Her preseason debut with the Lynx went well, where she posted 9 points and 13 rebounds in front of the home crowd against the Washington Mystics.
Poffenbarger began her collegiate career at UConn in the 2020-21 season, where she made a limited appearance on the court. Poffenbarger then transferred to Arkansas, where she redshirted her first season before playing the next two seasons, becoming a prominent player on the team and in the SEC. It led her to being named to the 2023 All-SEC Freshman Team at Arkansas and a five-time SEC Freshman of the Week at Arkansas
But it's when Poffenbarger joined the Terps for the past two seasons that she became a fierce all-around piece on Brenda Frese's squad. Poffenbarger averaged 9.4 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.7 blocks in 61 total games.
Poffenbarger can provide length and size on both ends, with her ability to read the floor well as a playmaker distributing to teammates and finding her areas on the floor to score the ball.
Defensively, Poffenbarger is savvy and a great on-ball defender who can switch pretty much 1-5 on the floor.
Poffenbarger's first opportunity comes tonight, as Chicago plays host to the Minnesota Lynx for its second meeting of the young season. Hopefully, she gets some run to show what she can do.
The clip below is Poffenbarger's first media session as a member of the Sky ahead of today's contest.
Saylor Poffenbarger with her first media session as a member of the Chicago Sky. Said she was working out back at Maryland after getting waived by the Lynx on May 6. Will face Minnesota tonight. pic.twitter.com/RQm2MMLWai
— Kareem Copeland (@kareemcopeland) May 29, 2026
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Jaden's sports journalism career began at the College of Southern Maryland from 2022-2023, where he was brought in to cover baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, and volleyball at CSM. In late 2023, he began interning at the University of Maryland Athletics Department as a contributing writer to help develop feature stories and game recaps. He also creates his own sports media content on professional Washington teams with LegacyMaker Sports Network.