It was the kind of offense they’d been chasing all season.
Cuts darted through closing doors, twisting Connecticut’s defense into knots as the Sparks’ monster frontcourt threw its weight around in a 57-point stampede. And with attention pulled inside, Kelsey Plum found her rhythm in the third quarter and Rae Burrell clawed her way into the lane to jolt the Sparks back to life.
With touches flowing from sideline to baseline, the Sparks kept their half of the scoreboard flashing in a wire-to-wire 92-88 victory over a flailing Sun squad — all while limiting Tina Charles, the WNBA’s second-leading scorer, to just nine points on three-for-10 shooting.
Rickea Jackson, with her wiry strength and burst, knifed past defenders as Dearica Hamby mixed bruising post work with soft finishes and Azurá Stevens — the most versatile of the bunch — filled every gap. And as Jackson and Hamby created real estate down low, the Sparks dished out 22 assists.
Jackson finished with 19 points, six rebounds and four assists, and Hamby had 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
“Rickea was phenomenal. … She was aggressive, she’s a tough guard. She set the tone, and they had a hard time containing her in space,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said. “Dearica’s defense — particularly the pick and rolls — she was so active tonight. And Z [Stevens], she doesn’t get the respect she deserves on the national scale.”
Sparks guard Kelsey Plum drives to the basket during Sunday’s win over the Connecticut Sun at Crypto.com Arena.
(Juan Ocampo / NBAE via Getty Images)
There wasn’t much time to breathe at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday, not when every possession felt like a pendulum swing — the Sparks (6-14) surging and the Sun (3-18) countering with Bria Hartley’s steady hand on the perimeter and Saniya Rivers’ muscle inside.
“We weren’t really rattled,” Stevens said. “They came back and had some runs, but we found a way to answer and I think it shows maturity and growth. … Sometimes when we get punched by teams, we tend to crumble. But today we stuck together, and we came back and got stops and put the pressure on them offensively.”
Plum, who finished with 23 points, willed her team to a 90-85 lead with a minute to play, first stepping through Connecticut’s Leïla Lacan for a crafty layup in the teeth of the defense, then nailing a pair from the free-throw line.
“I don’t think it could be understated — some of those finishes [Plum] had were unbelievable,” Roberts said.
Clinging to the lead, Julie Allemand elevated what could’ve been the dagger with 48 seconds left — a three-pointer that would’ve ballooned the lead to eight.
Instead, it went to a jump ball, Jackson drew a foul, and Rivers went to the line. Drowned in the noise of a frenzied Crypto.com Arena, the rookie scored on only one of her two shots, keeping it a two-possession game.
Coming out of a Connecticut timeout, Stevens rebounded a 26-foot heave from Hartley that clanged off the rim; Hartley then fouled Stevens.
True to her steady hand, Stevens iced the game at the line, finishing with 21 points to go with 11 rebounds and her seventh double-double of the season.
After the game, a familiar talking point in the postgame news conference: What makes Stevens such a matchup problem, and is she underrated? The Sparks’ 6-foot-6 forward has quietly put up her most dominant season yet, boasting more double-doubles this season than in her first seven seasons combined.
“I play for the team. I play for the Sparks. I play for my family, myself,” Stevens said. “That’s been one of my goals coming into this year, is to be consistent. So, I mean, respectfully, I don’t care what the media thinks.”
