Los Angeles, CA – Kelsey Plum did not come to play around with her former team and particularly Las Vegas starting forward Stephanie Talbot whom appeared running in circles on defense before her teammates came to the rescue to stop Los Angeles from a home opener win at Crypto Arena as the Aces bounced back from a 33-point home opener loss to a 27-point road victory over Sparks, 105-78.
Both of these squads started the season with some key personnel changes while last year’s defending WNBA champs added another backcourt scoring assassin to their roster, on the other hand, the Sparks reloaded in the frontcourt and backcourt, with acquiring veterans like former Sparks, Nneka Ogwumike and Ariel Atkins.
Atkins scored the first basket to put LA on the scoreboard and then it was all Plum in the first quarter, scoring seven points in route to a game high 27 points while trying to keep her team in the game, 29-14.
“Part of the beginning of the season is figuring out rotations and chemistry, all of those things,” Coach Lynne Roberts said. “We just didn’t have a lot of chemistry out there.”
Sparks were able to make a quick turnaround by the end of second quarter after a slow start, with more players coming into the fold led by Ogwumike’s 12 points in the quarter for 15-point first half alongside Plum’s 13 points, cutting the Aces’ 17-point lead into one to enter halftime, 42-41 advantage Vegas.
“We’re still working. We’re kind of learning, relearning each other all over again,” said Gray. “So like with that loss [yesterday], we’re going to get everybody’s best shot. When you’re the defending champs, that comes with the territory and we welcome that and we try to get the job done each night.”
Showing signs early of a playoff contender team with a 27 point second quarter that was able to hold Las Vegas to 13 points, still Los Angeles was unable to get over the hump to cause the Aces to fold and relinquish their lead as they more than double their scoring production in third quarter, 75-59 despite Sparks having six different scorers in the period.
“Out of halftime, they punched us in the face and we didn’t respond…” Plum said.
Sparks had no answers for the Aces in the second half as five players finished the game in double figures led by Chennedy Carter’s 22 points off the bench.
“It’s super hard. It’s not an easy thing for me to do, but when I’m out there, I’m making sure that I’m just playing basically in flow and just trying to find whoever is a scoring threat,” said Carter. “Usually, it’s Aja. So, we want to try to get Aja a lot of looks, a lot of touches. Then it’s Jackie and I try to just fill in when I can. Whenever it comes to me, I just try to be ready and make something happen.”
Jackie Young almost tallied a double-double in points and assists with 20 and nine. Aja Wilson had 19 points in 30 minutes but seemed to have an off-shooting night for the 4-time MVP standards with making only half of her field goal attempts.
Sparks trailed the entire game despite a showstopping second quarter, however, by the fourth quarter, both teams emptied their benches with little under 3:00 remaining left in the game as Carter and her Aces teammates went into cruise control until the final game buzzer.
The Sparks return midweek at Crypto Arena as host to Indiana Fever for a Wednesday game, 7:30p.
