LOS ANGELES — The Sparks finally break the ice.
The Sparks got off to a great start. The tough Toronto Tempo fought back until the end. But the Sparks held on and came away with their first victory, 99-95.
It was a wire-to-wire win for the Sparks, who led by as many as 20 points. But it still came down to the wire as the Tempo had a chance to tie the game with under 30 seconds left. Marina Mabrey missed the game-tying corner three.
“This is a WNBA team and they’re coached by one of the all-time greats (Sandy Brondello) in the league,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts stated. “They’re not going to just go away. We talked about that and those are competitors over there so you have to first give them some credit. I do think we gave up 57 points in the second half. That’s way too many so I feel like we lost maybe a little bit of our focus, intensity, which again, the goal is to put together 40 minutes. We haven’t done that yet this season, but the season’s early. Again, credit to Toronto for fighting and not folding. I have a lot of respect for that.
The Sparks got off a 10-0 start, with Erica Wheeler taking the helm in the absence of Ariel Atkins, who was out due to concussion protocol. Overall, the Sparks had 26 assists in 37 field goals. Those 26 assists were more than their first two games combined.
“Yeah, I think that’s the way we want to play. The first couple games were not that,” Coach Roberts said. “It’s just like I told you guys before the game, it’s a process. But we had six players in double figures, 26 assists on 37 makes, we just talked about that in the locker room. That’s how we want to play.
“Now, if we can shore up defensively, just be a little bit tighter. I thought we made some mental errors in the fourth but it’s good to still get the win and have to learn those hard lessons. But that’s the way we want to play.”
Wheeler wanted to make sure the ball was moving.
“I think like Coach said, like the first game that we played, we wasn’t moving the ball as much,” Wheeler said. “So I took that on my back and I made sure that happened.
“That’s how we want to play so we showed that. And you can see how it looked; it looked really good. It felt good as a collective and that’s it.”
In the fourth quarter, the Sparks played their entire starting line-up for nearly the last 10 minutes. Cameron Brink came in the last 30 seconds for defensive purposes and the Sparks hung on.
“I think you have to credit Toronto there,” Roberts conceded. “They were making a run and you got to go with who… yeah, go with the first group, so obviously that’s not ideal in a long season but you got to do what you got to do to get a win.”
The Sparks just shot under 64 percent, which is a ridiculous percentage. But that’s what ball movement does. They also shot 9 for 21 (.429) from three, which is much better than previous outings. The Tempo shot 44 percent while going 12 for 33 (.364) from behind the arc. The Sparks’ energy was palpable. Brink had another emphatic block in the game, putting her in the Top 10 in Sparks franchise history in blocked shots.
The Sparks had six players in double figures and were led by Kelsey Plum with 27 points and nine assists. Nneka Ogwumike had an efficient 20 points (8 for 11 from the field) and Dearica Hamby was getting nifty lay-ups on her way to 19 points.
Former Spark Brittney Sykes led the Tempo with 27 points while Laura Juskaite had 16. UCLA alum Kiki Rice, who just won a national championship last month, put in 11 points. Marina Mabrey, who was tied as the leading scorer in the league going into Friday, was held to seven points and was ready to crash out about a certain thing while living in Canada.
The next challenge for the Sparks (1-2)? They have to do this again against the Tempo (1-2) on Sunday.
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