Sparks unable to keep up with Liberty on the road

Despite a late push, the Sparks came up short against the Liberty on Thursday night.

A second-half Sparks collapse led to the Liberty beating Los Angeles 89-79.

Dearica Hamby ended with 25 points, nine rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks. Kelsey Plum scored 13 points with seven rebounds and eight assists. Rickea Jackson pitched in with eight points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Azurá Stevens had 12 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four blocks. Rae Burrell returned to action after missing six weeks with a right leg injury. She ended the game with five points and two rebounds.

The Sparks were cooking early, going up by six. New York struggled to convert on their shots until Kennedy Burke drained a 3-pointer. Dearica was leading the scoring charge for L.A. with seven points. Rickea was also off to a strong start with four points. At the midway point, Los Angeles was up by four.

New York began heating up with Breanna Stewart leading the charge. She scored all of her eight points in the paint. Kelsey was up to seven points, helping keep the Sparks in the game as the Liberty mounted their scoring surge. At the end of the first, the purple and gold were down by one.

Rae’s comeback started with an impressive reverse layup to start the second quarter. Azurá followed by knocking down her first 3-pointer in two attempts. Hamby kept up her aggressive play, adding a strong layup of her own. On the other end, Sabrina Ionescu responded with her first triple of the night for New York.

Turnovers quickly became an issue for Los Angeles, with five in the first four minutes of the quarter. Despite briefly building a six-point lead, their sloppy play opened the door for New York to erase the deficit and tie the game.

L.A. was doing a great job attacking the paint, which resulted in plenty of free throws. They were shooting 76% from the charity stripe. Dearica was living at the free throw line, going four for six.

As the quarter began to wind down, both teams started taking turns with the lead. Burke drained another three for the Liberty. Neither team could create any separation with their lead. With 14 seconds left, Rae drilled a huge 3-pointer to give the Sparks a four-point lead at halftime.

The second half opened with both teams trading steals and turnovers. Azurá scored the first points for the Sparks with a layup, and Julie Allemand drained a 3-pointer that extended L.A.’s lead to nine. This forced New York to call a timeout.

Dearica scored five straight points, helping the Sparks grab their first double-digit lead of the game. The Liberty had quick answers, not letting Los Angeles keep their double-digit leads. Natasha Cloud scored four points, and Stewart was up to 13 points for New York.

With 4:40 to go, the Liberty were on an 11-0 scoring run, evaporating L.A.’s lead and tying the game. Ionescu scored on a layup to put her team up by two. The Sparks countered by scoring four unanswered.

Ionescu’s strong third quarter continued. She scored 10 in the period and put the Liberty back in the lead. A 21-point turnaround put New York up by 10 at the end of the third.

Azurá tried to jump-start a comeback for the Sparks early in the final frame. She scored six straight points. Hamby joined the scoring with a layup of her own. Los Angeles continued to slowly chip away at the deficit, making it just a six-point lead for the Liberty.

At the midway point of the fourth, it was an eight-point lead for New York. Los Angeles was now up to 16 turnovers for the game. A quick 5-0 run cut the deficit in half for the Sparks, but a 3-pointer by Leonie Fiebich made it an eight-point lead for the Liberty.

With 1:17 left, L.A.’s comeback attempt fell apart as they were unable to cut the deficit any further.

Key Takeaways:

If L.A. could work on not having stretches of sloppy play, they’d keep their momentum and leads at a much more consistent level.

Can they figure out how to put together a great second half and not just a comeback attempt?

The Sparks’ next game will be Saturday against the Indiana Fever at 4:00 PM PT.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.