Four of the Sparks’ starters scored in double figures, but it wasn’t enough. Dearica Hamby had a historic night, grabbing her 341st rebound to break Lisa Leslie’s 20-year-old single-season franchise record and enter the Sparks’ top-10 career rebounds list, but it still wasn’t enough.
The Sparks outrebounded the Seattle Storm, outscored them in the paint and had more second-chance points, but all of it wasn’t enough as the Sparks fell 90-82 on Wednesday in their penultimate home game of the season.
“It was a really, really well-played game,” Sparks coach Curt Miller said. “I thought both teams adjusted to the physicality around the rim. The officials let a lot go tonight but because of that, there was some flow in our game. I just thought it was a really good basketball game … a lot easier to walk into that locker room tonight and talk to them about all the positives that we did.”
Rickea Jackson led the Sparks with 22 points. But it was really the efforts of two role players that shone through: Odyssey Sims, who recently was signed for the rest of the season, had 16 points while shooting 61% from the field to go with six assists and three rebounds. And Azurá Stevens had another monster night as she scored 18 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for a total of 32 rebounds in 48 hours.
“I just think I play better when I don’t think and I’m just aggressive,” Stevens said. “I think it helps the team come out and be more aggressive and it just gets us all attacking.”
The Sparks entered the fourth quarter trailing by six, their largest deficit. They’ve had a bad habit of letting runs snowball throughout the season, but it appeared as though they finally found an answer when a reverse layup from Jackson put the cap on an 8-0 run to start the period, giving the Sparks back the lead for the first time since before halftime.
The teams traded buckets for the next few minutes, but a corner three-pointer from Sami Whitcomb gave Seattle a 75-72 lead with just less than six minutes to go. The Sparks were able to get within one point, but a late sequence that consisted of a fadeaway basket from Skylar Diggins-Smith and a Crystal Dangerfield turnover that led to a fast-break layup from former Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike stretched the lead to five with less than two minutes to go.
A pair of missed free throws from Rae Burrell in the final 90 seconds ended any hopes of a Sparks comeback.
Sims, a 10-year veteran, says a young team such as the Sparks being in these situations is a sign of growth.
“We don’t have anything to lose, so what we control is our effort,” she said. “Whether you play a lot of minutes or not, go out there and give it your all. I think that’s more important, because it trickles down, from one all the way to 12. It’s contagious. … We have a young group, but you see glimpses of how good we can be.”
The Sparks (7-30) head to Seattle (22-14) for a rematch on Sunday. They return to Crypto.com Arena for their home finale against the Phoenix Mercury on Tuesday.
