Marina Mabrey tied a career-high with six three-pointers to go along with a season-high 26 points off the bench and the Connecticut Sun went on to defeat the Los Angeles Sparks 86-66 on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Connecticut (26-10) picked up their second win in three days over Los Angeles (7-29) after defeating the Sparks 79-67 on Sunday.
Brionna Jones finished with 19 points and eight rebounds while DiJonai Carrington added 14 points, five rebounds and three steals for the Sun. Alyssa Thomas nearly recorded a second consecutive triple-double with seven points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists.
“I thought [Mabrey] played with a better tempo and just exploited some of our mistakes defensively,” Sparks coach Curt Miller said. “She’s such a good scorer. As she got hot, it’s hard to cool her down, and she starts to make the contested shots … You could tell she got into one of those flows tonight where she was really comfortable.”
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Rickea Jackson finished with 16 points and Azurá Stevens had 10 points and a career-high 17 rebounds for the Sparks. Jackson passed Nneka Ogwumike for 2nd All-Time in points scored as a rookie with 463 and counting.
Miller described the two-game series against the Sun as their unofficial “playoffs” after being eliminated from postseason contention.
Los Angeles led 18-16 after the first period of play and led by as many as eight after an Odyssey Sims layup with 3:15 left in the opening quarter.
“When we came out in the first quarter, I thought we did a lot of things that we wanted to accomplish,” Miller said. “[We] felt like we made some good adjustments going into what we considered our Game 2 of the playoffs.”
The Sparks were unable to keep the game close from there as the Sun used multiple runs to put the game way, starting with an 8-0 flurry to start the second period.
Connecticut went on to outscore Los Angeles 27-14 in the second quarter and held a 43-32 advantage at halftime. The Sun led by as many as 19 after closing the third on an 11-2 run after DeWanna Bonner converted a pair of free throws to give the Sun a commanding 64-45 lead.
“We’re out of the playoffs now. There’s a lot of negatives, but there’s a lot we can be building towards too,” Stevens said. “…We’ve talked about that after a lot of these games, just like what are ways we can stay positive and continue to build … What are ways that we can continue to pour positive energy into what we’re trying to do and finish this year with pride?”
Mabrey converted her sixth three-pointer of the night to give Connecticut an 82-54 lead with 4:51 left in the fourth, leading to the 86-66 win over Los Angeles.
“We’ve got to be patient,” Miller said. “Never easy for fanbases, never easy for us. I’m a builder, and [I’ve] built a lot of programs, but I’m not used to losing either. We’re going to get there, though, and I’m proud of the work behind the scenes that isn’t seen as much on what’s going on. It’s going to pay off.”
