Los Angeles, CA- Spoiling a homecoming for southern California native and former USC standout, KiKi Iriafen, Los Angeles Sparks was smooth sailing Tuesday night at Crypto arena in the second half after a dominating first half against the Washington Mystics with four starters scoring double figures again in their team’s second straight home win.
“I think you saw how bad we wanted this one, right?” Coach Lynne Roberts said. “It’s been a tough first part of the season, and it feels really good to play two games in a row well and to get a winning streak going and to protect our home court.”
Wasting no time to set the tone for her team, Dearica Hamby led all scorers with 26 points and had 18 points at halftime including a buzzer-beater three-pointer. Kelsey Plum scored 14 points in the first half and finished with 20 points along with six assists.
“We have three people with 20 points and Azurá [Stevens] scored 15,” Rickea Jackson said. “That’s just what we do when we’re doing it on both ends like that, and it’s just fun basketball.”
The Sparks outscored Mystics 33-12 in second quarter, closing the half on a 17-2 run for a 25 point lead.
The Mystics would eventually awaken in the second half winning both third and fourth quarters by three points. But it was not enough to overcome the large deficit built by the Sparks as they maintained their double-digit lead to the end of the game, though coming up one point shy of breaking 100.
“It’s great to start the break on a win, right?” Plum said. “And I just think, obviously, people’s schedule’s been pretty crazy, just for everyone in the league. So resting, get your body right and then, obviously, we play Washington in Washington to start the break. So they’re going to come at us differently…”
Washington’s Shakira Austin led her team with 16 points and eight rebounds. Los Angeles were able to shutdown the Mystics two remarkable rookies, Iriafen and Sonia Citron, recently selected as WNBA All Stars. Instead it was Sug Sutton and Aaliyah Edwards stepping up to score, 14 and 13 points, respectively.
Washington (11-11) was on a three game winning streak and in current playoff position.
Meanwhile Los Angeles(8-14) is making a late push for a playoff spot while achieving their first win streak of the season that tied their total wins accrued last season.
Jackson scored 13 of her 22 points in the second half. Julie Allemand did not score in double digits but dished 10 assists to produce a +22 rating.
The Sparks will be flying high onto All Star break with two crucial wins under them plus their leading scorer, Plum, selected to represent not only in Sunday’s action-packed game and earlier today’s announcement that she will be apart of the three point contest alongside Mystics’ Citron plus three other shooters.
