Sparks Dominate Play Against Storm in Nearly Every Way Except on the Scoreboard | Sports

Four of the Sparks’ starters scored in double figures, nevertheless it wasn’t sufficient. Dearica Hamby had a historic night time, grabbing her 341st rebound to interrupt Lisa Leslie’s 20-year-old single-season franchise document and enter the Sparks’ top-10 profession rebounds checklist, nevertheless it nonetheless wasn’t sufficient.

The Sparks outrebounded the Seattle Storm, outscored them in the paint and had extra second-chance factors, however all of it wasn’t sufficient as the Sparks fell 90-82 on Wednesday in their penultimate dwelling sport of the season.

“It was a really, really well-played game,” Sparks coach Curt Miller stated. “I thought both teams adjusted to the physicality around the rim. The officials let a lot go tonight but because of that, there was some flow in our game. I just thought it was a really good basketball game … a lot easier to walk into that locker room tonight and talk to them about all the positives that we did.”

Rickea Jackson led the Sparks with 22 factors. But it was actually the efforts of two function gamers that shone by: Odyssey Sims, who just lately was signed for the remainder of the season, had 16 factors whereas taking pictures 61% from the discipline to go along with six assists and three rebounds. And Azurá Stevens had one other monster night time as she scored 18 factors and grabbed 15 rebounds for a complete of 32 rebounds in 48 hours.

“I just think I play better when I don’t think and I’m just aggressive,” Stevens stated. “I think it helps the team come out and be more aggressive and it just gets us all attacking.”

The Sparks entered the fourth quarter trailing by six, their largest deficit. They’ve had a foul behavior of letting runs snowball all through the season, nevertheless it appeared as if they lastly discovered a solution when a reverse layup from Jackson put the cap on an 8-0 run to start out the interval, giving the Sparks again the lead for the first time since earlier than halftime.

The groups traded buckets for the subsequent jiffy, however a nook three-pointer from Sami Whitcomb gave Seattle a 75-72 lead with simply lower than six minutes to go. The Sparks had been capable of get inside one level, however a late sequence that consisted of a fadeaway basket from Skylar Diggins-Smith and a Crystal Dangerfield turnover that led to a fast-break layup from former Sparks ahead Nneka Ogwumike stretched the result in 5 with lower than two minutes to go.

A pair of missed free throws from Rae Burrell in the last 90 seconds ended any hopes of a Sparks comeback.

Sims, a 10-year veteran, says a younger group comparable to the Sparks being in these conditions is an indication of development.

“We don’t have anything to lose, so what we control is our effort,” she stated. “Whether you play a lot of minutes or not, go out there and give it your all. I think that’s more important, because it trickles down, from one all the way to 12. It’s contagious. … We have a young group, but you see glimpses of how good we can be.”

The Sparks (7-30) head to Seattle (22-14) for a rematch on Sunday. They return to Crypto.com Arena for his or her dwelling finale in opposition to the Phoenix Mercury on Tuesday.

This story initially appeared in Los Angeles Times.