Los Angeles, CA – Dearica Hamby had an 18-point double-double and rookie forward Rickea
Jackson had a career-high 16 points off the bench, but the Sparks could not overcome two late
3-pointers by Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark and suffered a 78-73 loss on Friday night in
front of a Sparks record crowd of 19,103 at Crypto.com Arena.
“I’m just grateful that everyone is starting to support women’s basketball but we didn’t get the
win so I’m not excited or ecstatic about that but I feel like we’re going to keep growing and learn
from our mistakes,” Jackson said.
Sparks rookie forward Cameron Brink battled the whole game on both sides of the ball having a
career-high 15 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots. Brink found herself in foul trouble
early in the first quarter and that definitely played a part in her being a bit more reserved
defensively throughout the rest of the game.
Clark had her first WNBA double-double with 11 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, though
she missed her first seven 3-point attempts before making one with 2:27 left, triggering a roar of
cheers and applause.
The Sparks (1-3) had an 11-point lead at halftime and still led 56-53 heading into the fourth
quarter, but the Fever started the period on a 10-2 run for a 63-58 lead with 5:38 to go on a
3-pointer by Mitchell, who scored 13 of her 18 points in the fourth.
“I think we showed our vulnerability to our youth,” Hamby said. “Lack a little bit of composure,
kind of going away from the things that was working the first half and we let the frustration of not
being able to score the ball dictate our defense and we can’t do that. They are too good of
individual players to let that slippage happen.”
Sparks head coach Curt Miller talked about guarding Clark and the issues Los Angeles faced
against the Fever.
“I thought we guarded Caitlin well but her physicality really bothered us and Kristy Wallace will
get no credit in the box score stats but Kristy Wallace’s physicality defensively really bothered
us,” said Miller
The Sparks are back home on Sunday against Dallas(1-2) before they go on a three game
road-trip starting with a rematch against Clark and the Fever(1-5) again on Tuesday, May 28th, 2024.
