Los Angeles, CA – After being tied at 70-70 the Sparks dug in their heels and played some defense to pull out a 78 – 75 victory for their third win in a row. Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike lead her team charge with 22 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists.
Today’s victory was a team win having the all five starters scoring in double digits. Liz Cambage dropped 19 points, and 7 rebounds.
“Came out hard for a full 40 mins,” said Ogwumike.
Skylar Diggins-Smith kept her team in the game with a team high 22 points, 5 assists.
Sparks third period wasn’t the strongest but they maintained the two-point lead from halftime behind a strong presence in the paint by Ogwumike. At this point the they were even with 24 points scored in the paint where tonight’s battle was won.
After being tied at 26 the Sparks push away to 10-point lead 36-26 until Skylar Diggins-Smith dropped a much need bucket with 4 minutes left in the half.
Photo by Chanel Foster / fi360 News
The Sparks Senior Vice President Natalie White escorted former Lakers great Michael Cooper and his family to courtside seats by the bench. Already being a former coach of the Sparks in 2000-2004, 2007-2009 winning consecutive WNBA Championships 2001 and 2002. Will he leave his current coaching job at Culver City High School to fill the Sparks vacancy?
Cambage started the first period imposing her height in the paint scoring team high 9 while the team had 10 points in paint. The Sparks were down 20-18 after one.
This being the teams third meeting protecting home court has been the theme with both teams wining at home. They meet one more time on July 28th in Phoenix for the fourth and final time.
Coming into today’s back-to-back game riding a two-game winning streak led by interim coach Fred Williams. With 9-11 record is good enough for third place in the western conference going into this game.
“We are a good team too,” said Ogwumike, “People are trying to make the right plays each time down the court.”
The team has been changing right before our eyes, with a team game forces. You can see that coach Williams has the team playing both sides of the court.
Now they will use this homestand to get in more practice time and continue to grow as a team.
The Sparks will host the Seattle Storm on Thursday July 7, at 7:30pm back here at Crypto.com
