LOS ANGELES — The Sparks’ offensive drought in the first half proved too much to overcome in a loss to the expansion Golden State Valkyries on Friday night.
The game was a rematch of last week’s season opener in San Francisco, but the visitors turned the tables on the Sparks this time, avenging a 17-point loss with an 82-73 win at Crypto.com Arena.
“They beat us tonight,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said. “I thought they played more connected. They played harder. They played with more intensity. I thought in the fourth quarter we finally played with the urgency it takes to win in this league. … We have to figure out how to play that for 40 minutes.”
Dearica Hamby led the Sparks (1-3) with 25 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots, but they were outscored 25-9 in the second quarter and their fourth-quarter rally came up short. Kelsey Plum, who had 37 points when the clubs met last week, had 16 points on an off shooting night (6 for 18 from the field, 2 for 10 from 3-point range) to go with four steals, and Odyssey Sims added 13 points. Azura Stevens had a team-high 10 rebounds to go with six points.
Carla Leite scored 19 points and fellow WNBA rookie Janelle Salaun added 18 points and eight rebounds for Golden State (2-1). Kayla Thorton finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds and Veronica Burton added 12 points and five steals.
The first quarter was a game of runs – a 7-1 run from Golden State to start the game and an 11-0 run from the Sparks that gave them a 20-9 lead. The Valkyries then outscored the hosts 40-15 for the rest of the half.
The heart of the run bridged the first two quarters, with Golden State using an 8-1 surge to get within 26-24 by the end of the first quarter. The Sparks were then held scoreless for almost the first 7½ minutes of the second quarter as the Valkyries opened a 45-26 lead. Salaun made a pair of 3-pointers during the 18-0, period-opening run before Hamby made a 4-foot shot with 2:36 left.
“I was really frustrated with the second quarter,” said Roberts, whose team shot 2 for 16 from the field in the period. “We missed some shots that I think they were expecting to make and then that just affected our defense and we stopped the game plan. We weren’t running, we weren’t moving it … too much one-on-one.”
The Sparks started the third quarter trailing by 14, but they shot 38.7% from the field for the night and had 18 turnovers, which made it hard to sustain momentum.
“We ramped up our defense,” said Golden State coach Natalie Nakase, a UCLA and Marina High standout who was a Clippers assistant coach under Doc Rivers. “That’s when I think we got more of the deflections and then just getting stops to rebound and push. We’re just best in transition…it starts with our defense.”
Golden State led by as much as 20 points before going cold while the Sparks came alive. Thornton made a floater that gave Golden State a 73-58 lead with 6:43 left in the fourth quarter, but the Valkyries went scoreless for the next five-plus minutes.
Plum hit a 3-pointer and Hamby added five points during a 14-2 run to get within 73-68 with 2:32 to play, but Thornton made three free throws with 1:33 remaining for a 76-68 lead and Burton and Salaun combined for six more free throws to close out the win.
“We did show toughness,” Roberts said. “We didn’t fold. They kept competing. We made it a game. We had all the momentum there and then kind of lost at the free-throw line. But why does it take 30 minutes for us to play like that? You don’t have to play perfect, but you need to play hard and with urgency.”
Hamby scored 11 of the Sparks’ 20 points in the fourth, but for the second game in a row they saw a late comeback attempt fall short. They have lost three straight since beating Golden State, 84-67, in the season opener.
UP NEXT
The Sparks will host Chicago (0-2) on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m.
More to come on this story.
Originally Published:
