Los Angeles, CA – Cali showed love to Angel Reese during game introductions despite her not being one of the Halos in Los Angeles while the Sparks (2-3) showed the Sky (0-3) their limits at Crypto Arena in a lopsided victory, 91-78.
Both “Angels” took an “L” on Sunday for Los Angeles baseball team and Chicago WNBA team to continue their teams’ losing streak.
“It’s tough losing 3 in a row,” Reese said. “But I think if we stick together and work on the things we need to then we will be alright.”
And on the winning side, Sparks’ coach Lynne Roberts had this to say, “Yes, I prefer winning. I’m much better at it,” Roberts continued, “And that’s what I just told them in the locker room, we played 40 minutes and wins are hard to come by in this league.”
For Coach Roberts this was their first game of a complete 40 minutes playing “good” basketball the way that she expects and sees their potential for the remainder of the season.
Even with the Sky’s height advantage making it uncomfortable, the Sparks were still able to finish with a team best 24 assists on 31 made baskets.
“That’s the stat of the game for me,” coach Roberts said.
The Sparks went tit-for-tat with the Sky most of the first quarter with the Sky keeping it a close game early on despite early foul trouble with their starting center, Kamilla Cardoso.
“I think Dearica Hamby and me boxed out as much as we could, but the guards came in and got the ones that fell around the free throw line,” starting center Azurá Stevens said. “I think that’s important when you’re playing teams that have size, it takes a gang effort.”
Stevens rose to the occasion on both ends of the floor, scoring 24 points as well as helping to contain two of the young, rising first round draftees, post players in the league.
But the Sky didn’t go away quietly or quickly as they fought throughout the game, especially when Rebecca Allen came off the bench in the second quarter to warm up her team from the outside after Stevens and Hamby’s defense somewhat froze scoring inside the paint.
“They did a really good job of just not dwelling on the run and to just keep chopping wood,” coach Roberts said.
After halftime, Plum chopped more than wood, finishing with 28 points for the game, 17 coming in the third quarter, as she chopped the Sky’s defense into “Reese’s” pieces, sort of previewing this with a first quarter gestured once she drove clear pass Reese for an easy left hand layup. Plum celebrated with a popular hand low to the ground to express the Sky’s defense is too little.
Not only too little defense from the Sky, too little offense as well, donning currently the last place in the league for both categories.
However, the Sparks played big with four players scoring in double figures behind Plum and Stevens, starting guard Odyssey Sims scored 12, and Hamby finished with 10 to go along with a full stat line of six rebounds, eight assists, and six steals.
The Sparks kept the momentum going with their defense while being more meticulous with their offensive movement.
“We were 13 out of 27 from the [three-point line],” Coach Roberts said. “We had a good proportion of twos to threes. The ball was moving, and [we had a] season high of points, so we just gotta build on it.”
As the Sparks continue to build around injuries and new improvements, they might have established some foundational pillars against the Sky after committing fewer turnovers and creating more fastbreak opportunities leading to points.
Meanwhile, Reese led her team with another career double-double for the season, scoring an efficient 13 points and 12 rebounds. Sky had three other players in double figures including Cardoso with 12, Rebecca Allen and Courtney Vandersloot both scoring 11 apiece.
Sparks will have another 36 hour turnaround game action this Tuesday night after the Memorial Day holiday against the Atlanta Dream at Crypto Arena. Coach Roberts alluded to her adjustment from college to pros is managing lesser practice time in exchange for more film study.
Speaking of attention to details, hopefully with another Sparks win, it will not only be two in a row, it will also tie both teams’ records, breaking even, 3-3.
