Sparks beat Wings thanks to second-half dominance

The Sparks snapped their three-game losing streak with a win over the Dallas Wings on Friday night.

The Sparks delivered a complete performance from start to finish to get a 93-79 win over the Dallas Wings on Friday night. They are now 1-1 in the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup.

Azurá Stevens ended with 21 points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals and three blocks. She knocked down five 3-pointers, which is a career high. Dearica Hamby had 20 points and four rebounds.

Odyssey Sims contributed with 19 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Kelsey Plum scored 11 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished nine dimes. Rickea Jackson ended with 10 points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals.

The Sparks took complete control of the game immediately with an 11-0 scoring run. Dearica was leading all scorers with seven points.

DiJonai Carrington and Myisha Hines-Allen combined for the only five points the Wings scored.

Dallas began to slowly creep back into it, while L.A. was missing their shots. The Sparks were struggling to grab rebounds, allowing the Wings to have several opportunities to convert on shots they were missing.

Rickea’s first game back since being out for personal reasons was a strong showing early on. She was up to four points and looked like she hadn’t missed a beat. At the end of the first, the purple and gold were up four.

Odyssey came up big for Los Angeles to start the second quarter, scoring six straight points on back-to-back 3-pointers. Dallas did a commendable job closing in, but Azurá then scored two 3-pointers in a row, which forced the Wings to call a timeout. Out of the break, Arike Ogunbowale scored on a jumper.

The Sparks started playing messily with turnovers, lazy passes and miscommunication. They pushed their turnover total to seven with two minutes left until halftime.

Azurá drained her second 3-pointer of the game. Dallas made just eight of their 18 shot attempts in the quarter, shooting 44%, while L.A. shot 56% from the field. Despite not shooting so well, the Wings managed to keep it close with their defense.

At halftime, the Sparks were up by five.

Los Angeles opened the third quarter with a quick start—a stark contrast to other second halves this year, where they’ve begun slow.

They scored seven points to push their lead to 11. That was the largest lead of the night for either team. Carrington was shouldering the offensive load for the Wings, scoring four points.

As a team, the Sparks were shooting 37% from behind the arc, while the Wings were shooting 38%. Dallas began a slight push to cut the deficit to three, but L.A. responded with a 9-0 run to quickly extend their lead once again. Rickea was up to four points in the quarter, all of which were from layups.

At the end of the third, the Sparks were up 12.

The Sparks came out on fire to start the final frame. Azurá added five quick points to her already dominant performance, and when Odyssey drove in for a layup to stretch L.A.’s lead to 21, the Wings were forced to call a timeout.

Dallas did put up a fight, battling through Los Angeles’ onslaught, but it wasn’t enough as the Sparks maintained control. With 2:43 left in the game, head coach Lynne Roberts emptied the bench as the Sparks cruised to victory.

Key Takeaways:

Was that a great third quarter we witnessed? Why yes, yes it was! The Sparks finally played a strong third quarter, only allowing the Wings to make it a close game once.

Jackson looked good out there. Once she gets into a more consistent rhythm, she’ll be a huge factor for this team.

The Sparks’ next game will be Monday against the Golden State Valkyries at 7:00 PM PT.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.