Los Angeles, CA – The Los Angeles Sparks have officially missed out on the 2022 WNBA Playoffs after their second blowout loss to the Connecticut Sun this week. Although the game started in a competitive way, the Sparks had to swallow a 93-69 loss on Thursday night.
The Sun were off to a solid start, shooting at 58.8% from the field in the first quarter. The Sparks weren’t quite as accurate but they didn’t fall behind by much, as the Sun only led by five points at the end of the first quarter.
Unfortunately for them, the rest of the game was a different story.
During the second period, Connecticut started pulling away and was up by as many as 15 points. At halftime, the Sparks found themselves down 43-54. That deficit continued to grow after the break.
By the end of the third quarter, only Brittney Sykes had scored in double digits with 14 points for Los Angeles. She went on to finish the night as the team’s leading scorer with 18 points on 8-for-14 shooting. Nneka Ogwumika was the only other LA player that reached double figures with 10 points.
Connecticut, one of the top rebounder teams in the league, did what it knows best and registered 42 boards through the night. This helped the Sun beat the Sparks 23-9 in second chance points. They finished the evening shooting at 50% from the field with four players in double digits. Alyssa Thomas led the winning offense with 18 points on 8-for-11 shooting. She almost registered a double double with nine rebounds while also adding five assists and one steal.
“Its been a journey this year with this squad.”, said coach Fred Williams
Since July 7, the Sparks have only won three of their last 14 games. They have one more chance to end the season on a high note when they host the Dallas Wings on Sunday at 4 p.m. PT for their last game of the regular season.
“Trying to get on a constant flow,” said Sykes about the ups and down of the season. “I think we did really good at control what we can control.”
