San Diego, CA- LA Sparks traveled to San Diego to host their team’s weekly training camp as well as their preseason game opener on Saturday at Viejas Arena against Nigeria National team, for a lopsided victory, 89-63, led by one of seven returners and San Diego native, Kelsey Plum’s 22 points.
Sparks open on a 8-0 run with back-to-back triples from a new left-handed starting backcourt duo, Ariel Atkins and Kelsey Plum, after last season left-handed combination of Odyssey Sims and Plum faded out as Sims left the team midseason to join Indiana Fever.
“It’s process over outcome at this point in the season, “Head Coach Lynne Roberts said to open the postgame press conference.
Sparks early game action from deep followed by a delayed transition midrange bucket by Atkins forced Nigeria to call an early timeout with less than two minutes ran off the game clock.
“I think Ariel is an unbelievable fit for us,” Roberts said. “she’s just efficient and smooth and all the things.”
Sparks offensive dominance continued throughout the game as they held the lead the entire game while their defensive tenacity mirrored a regular season game rather than an exhibition global competition setup to expand a growing WNBA fanbase as well as league partnerships.
“I wanted to you know obviously see these pieces and games no matter what the scoreboard says,” Coach Roberts said.
D’Tigress finally got on the scoreboard midway through the first cutting off the Sparks largest run in the first to 10, 12-2.
After hitting both free throws, a momentum shifts temporarily occurred for Nigeria before LA answered with a 8-2 run after another back-to-back triples knocked down by Atkins and Plum before ending the first quarter, 27-17.
Coach Lynne Roberts played most of her 10 new additions on the roster by halftime, 44-29, showing team’s depth inside and outside with multiple lineups plus the team’s overall defense improvements without subtracting from her identity as one of the highest offensive rating style head coach in the league.
“…I got the top guys some on floor game chemistry playing together which I think you saw and then play you know the other guys as much as we can just to get them playing with other people,” coach Roberts said.
While Plum and some of the other starters played half of the 40-minute game, their top draft pick, TaNiya Latson, got to experience little over twenty minutes of action with both a veteran lineup and newcomer lineup.
“In the second half, I tried to play TaNiya with the first group a little more to see how she did out there with those guys. I was pleased with how it was and I think with the new players that we’ve added, the vets, I think everyone can see the fit,” coach Roberts said.
The newcomer lineup is where Latson seemed to struggle a bit as lead guard earlier in the game while Sparks second draft pick this season, Chance Gray, seized an opportunity to showcase her offensive range along with being a two-way player as she demonstrated intense ball pressure on the defensive end.
Later in the game, there was more synergy between Gray and Latson as well as Latson and others to make a late game run and put the Sparks up, 84-53.
“We have a lot of talent and I think preseason is for building chemistry and to figure out how to put that stuff together,” Plum said. “I know TaNiya was like KP I’ve never played one, and I’m like, “Welcome to the pros, you know, you just kind of you kind of roll with it…the best thing about coach’s offense, it’s very free flowing. You can be in any spot.”
Nigeria appeared to find a little rhythm on offense after successfully challenging an offensive foul that instead was reversed into a defensive foul on Sania Feagin.
However, the Sparks “spidey” senses on defense did not let this rhythm form into a beat long enough before putting this game away, 89-60, with Nigerian scoring only one more basket after setting up a play during their timeout with 1:16 remaining in the game.
Nigeria would run out final minutes of the game clock in route to mid-court where players from both teams met up on the floor whom were former college teammates or overseas now reuniting to culminate this special occasion for their teams first matchup in the second WNBA game ever played in San Diego.
Next up LA travels to Portland to play the new WNBA expansion team with a mini reunion between the team and their former second draft pick, Sarah Ashlee Barker.
