The Sparks are finally in the win column, but the outcome was in doubt late Friday night.
Behind double-digit scoring from all five starters, the Sparks had by far their best offensive showing of the season, shooting 63.8% during a 99-95 win over the expansion Toronto Tempo.
The Tempo didn’t make things easy, cutting the deficit to two points late and later trailing by just three with 31 seconds remaining and possession of the ball. Marina Mabrey missed a three-point attempt before late Tempo fouls gave the Sparks enough of a cushion to win.
“They weren’t going to go away,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said. “We talked about that, those are competitors over there, so you have to first give them some credit. Then 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 and intensity.”
The Sparks’ Dearica Hamby drives past the Tempo’s Laura Juskaite Friday at Crypto.com Arena.
(Luiza Moraes / Getty Images)
Kelsey Plum nearly claimed a double-double with 27 points and nine assists, while Dearica Hamby had 19 points with seven rebounds and Nneka Ogwumike scored 20 points.
Erica Wheeler, who started in place of Ariel Atkins (concussion), scored 10 points with seven assists and was a plus-16 as the primary ball-handler after starting the season two for 16 from the field. That freed up Plum to be in position to score, setting up a much more efficient Sparks offense.
“The first game that we played, we [weren’t] moving the ball as much, so I took that on my back,” Wheeler said. “That’s how we want to play, and I think we showed that.”
Toronto was shorthanded in the frontcourt without starting center Temi Fagbenle (right shoulder), and the Sparks trio of bigs had a field day with 54 points in the paint.
The Sparks came out firing on Friday, opening with a 17-2 run.
The Tempo went on a 10-0 burst heading into the second quarter but the Sparks countered to maintain momentum and led 46-38 at halftime.
A Wheeler three-pointer early in the third quarter gave the Sparks a 20-point lead. The Tempo cut it to three midway through the fourth while Brittany Sykes (27 points, seven assists) sparked Toronto’s rally. The Tempo put up more shots than the Sparks 70-58, largely because of a 10-2 offensive-rebounding gap.
Cameron Brink’s 10 points were the only ones provided by the Sparks’ bench, while the Tempo got 42 points from reserves.
But the Sparks’ star power was too much to overcome.
“With us you have to pick your poison,” Hamby said. “Especially on the backside, we also have three elite scorers, so we kind of have emphasized that it may not be there as much this year, but we’re going to get it on the reverse side.”
Toronto was coming off its first win in franchise history on Wednesday when it defeated Seattle but struggled against a more complete offensive team in the Sparks.
In her return to Los Angeles after winning a national championship with UCLA this spring, Tempo rookie Kiki Rice netted 11 points.
Kate Martin made her Sparks debut as a developmental player with Atkins and Sania Feagin (lower left leg) unavailable and picked up one rebound in six minutes.
The Sparks will face Toronto again on Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.
“The goal is to put together 40 minutes,” Roberts said. “We haven’t done that yet this season, but the season’s early, we’ll get there.”
