Los Angeles, CA- The Minnesota Lynx (4-1) gain another victory after tonight’s win of 67-52 over the Los Angeles Sparks (0-3). The game had a fast pace in the beginning with the Los Angeles Sparks controlling the ball. Marianna Tolo kicked off the game scoring the first 2 points and continued scoring most of the shots for the 1st half. Jantel Lavender and Jennifer Hamson contributed much to the second quarter points. Lavender closing out the first half with a challenging 2-pointer at the ring of the buzzer. Ending 1st half score of 28-23 Sparks.
The beginning of the second half looked promising for the Sparks with Jennifer Lacy kicking off the 3rd quarter scoring the first 2 points, but as the game continued the players looked fatigued. Tolo had a swift interception then scoring a basket. It wasn’t enough to hold off Asjha Jones and Seimone Augustus as they came back scoring baskets of their own.
The 3rd quarter ended with the Lynx coming back 46-37. The 4th quarter started out well for Lynx players. Lavender and Tolo tried to bang on the boards, but came up short with the Sparks losing control of the ball frequently. Seimone Augustus and Moore brought it home for Minnesota scoring 3-pointers in the last 2 minutes. Erin Philips and Farhiya Abdi tried to bring the Sparks out of the hole in the last seconds scoring the last 2 possessions, but were unsuccessful, ending the game with a score of 67-52 Lynx.
The Sparks were not fazed by the lose Phillips says, “I thought the team has done better when analyzing the last three games, but fatigue is what plagued the team during the second half and that it is early in the season.”, “We’ll get there.” Lavender thought the players, “We got comfortable, but we are a work in progress.”
Sparks head coach Brian Agler believed that fatigued was the down fall, too, and that the Lynx were good opponents. He says for improving in the next games “We will stay the course, we had some injured players, but we’re improving…we’re not going to hang our heads and keep moving forward.” Agler added the Sparks will be more assertive in plays and working on improvements in defense and fluidity in offense.
Los Angeles Sparks will host Connecticut Sun Sunday June 21st at 2 pm PST at Staples Center.
More Game Photos from this game can be viewed at Full Image 360
