Sparks dominated by Aces on the road

The Sparks were unable to beat the Aces in Kelsey Plum’s return to Las Vegas on Friday night.

The Sparks could not find enough juice to overcome the Las Vegas Aces, losing 96-81, Friday night.

Dearica Hamby ended with 14 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and two steals. Odyssey Sims scored 15 points with four rebounds and two assists. Emma Cannon and Liatu King had solid minutes off the bench. Emma had six points and Liatu also scored six and grabbed two rebounds.

In her return to Las Vegas, Kelsey Plum had a slow offensive night, scoring 17 points to go with her three assists.

The Sparks jumped ahead by four early, but the Aces immediately took the momentum with a 17-2 scoring run, to lead by 11.

Dearica had four of L.A.’s six total points. Las Vegas’ Jackie Young was the first player in the game in double digits. A’Ja Wilson scored six straight points, adding to the growing lead for the Aces.

A layup by Odyssey stopped some of the bleeding.

The Sparks were slowly starting to chip away at the deficit by tightening their defense and battling through Las Vegas’ strong defense. Cannon saw some minutes and drained two 3-pointers for L.A.

After falling behind by 17, Los Angeles had chipped away at that lead with a 10-2 run, making it a seven-point game at the end of the first.

Los Angeles kept their strong play well into the second. Both teams traded baskets back and forth.

Mercedes Russell scored the first points in the quarter for the Sparks with a layup. Wilson was now up to 14 points, taking over offensively for the Aces. Dearica countered with a three-point play.

L.A. started to break down defensively again, leading to easy shots for Las Vegas. Plum scored her first points of the game with a layup.

The rookie Sarah Ashlee Barker fouled Chelsea Gray, which led to her converting on a three-point play. Back-to-back threes from Gray and Jewell Lloyd led to a timeout for L.A.

Out of the break, Wilson drained a 3-pointer. Suddenly, the Sparks found themselves down by 18 with 1:47 left in the half.

Liatu King knocked down a much-needed 3-pointer for Los Angeles, but Las Vegas responded with a Tiffany Mitchell 3-pointer right at the buzzer to put the Aces up 15 at halftime.

Odyssey opened the second half for L.A. with a layup. The Aces center Kiah Stokes scored her first two points of the season. Los Angeles only converted on two of their six shot attempts with nearly half of the quarter finished. Luckily for them, Las Vegas was battling through a cold stretch as well, only making one of their eight shot attempts.

Wilson stopped the bleeding for her team, and Azurá Stevens finally cracked the scoreboard with a layup.

Despite Stevens’ basket, Los Angeles struggled from the field. Kelsey’s cold night continued as she was now up to five missed shots in the quarter. Odyssey scored a much-needed four straight points for the Sparks.

With under two minutes left in the fourth, Plum made a layup. She scored the final points for L.A. in the quarter. At the end of the third, the purple and gold were down 21.

Azurá went on a mini-scoring run with six points to start the final frame. Kelsey then knocked down a 3-pointer, adding to a nice comeback attempt for the Sparks. They battled valiantly, but ultimately couldn’t withstand the offensive firepower of the Aces.

Key Takeaways:

Los Angeles letting their strong start get away from them in the first doomed them. They need to figure out how to put together a complete game.

The Sparks’ next game will be Sunday against the Phoenix Mercury at 3:00 PM PT.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.