The Los Angeles Sparks held the Dallas Wings to nine points in the fourth quarter, helping them secure an 81-72 victory.
A three-pointer by guard Lexie Brown ignited a nine-point run for the Sparks in the final phase and the Wings were unable to recover. Los Angeles held Dallas to 34 points in the paint while scoring 52. Sparks head coach Curt Miller noted how the team “stayed in attack mode” throughout the contest.
The Los Angeles Sparks defeated the Dallas Wings 81-72. Dearica Hamby scored 22 points and 12 rebounds. Lexie Brown hit four three-pointers and ultimately scored 16 points pic.twitter.com/ULGcmIMjxV
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“You have to try to stop Dallas in the paint,” said Sparks head coach Curt Miller. “In their wins, they average over 50 points in the paint and their losses, they’re in the 30s.”
Forward Dearica Hamby led the Sparks with 22 points and 12 rebounds; this is her fifth outing this season where she scored at least 20 points. She noted how tenacity and aggressiveness helped the team win.
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“It wasn’t perfect but we were competing,” Hamby said. “We had a team meeting and we were like “we got to dig deep and compete on defense.””
Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale scored 22 points and four assists despite going 0-9 in three-pointers. Forward Monique Billings gave the Wings 12 rebounds.
The Sparks bench gave them a competitive edge throughout the second half. Among them was guard Lexie Brown, who went 4-8 from downtown. She finished the match with 16 points.
She, along with guard Aari McDonald led the team with six assists. The Sparks had 23 assists while the Wings had 14.
“I have a point-guard mind, that’s how I was raised, that’s how I grew up, I have developed into a scorer over time,” Brown said. “But this team makes it so easy for me to make plays for them, so shout out to us for sharing the ball today.”
The bench scored a combined 34 points, 10 rebounds and 32 assists. Miller noted how they helped in battling Wings forward Maddy Siegrist.
“The bench was huge, not only did they score but they gave us energy,” Miller said. “[McDonald] kept the tempo up, [Brown] found rhythm and scored.”
Rookie forward Cameron Brink scored her first WNBA double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds along with two blocks. Forward Rickea Jackson scored eight points and two steals. Hamby told Jackson at halftime to forget about what happened in the first half.
“We are demanding a lot out of [Jackson] and I think she knows that,” Hamby said. “For her to come out second half and play the way she did, that’s big growth.”
The Sparks return home on Sunday to battle the Las Vegas Aces at 6:00P.M.
