Brittney Sykes scored a career-high 38 points against her former team, rookie Kiki Rice added a career-high 19 and the expansion Toronto Tempo picked up their first ever road win in a 106-96 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks on Sunday.
Marina Mabrey scored 14 points and Kia Nurse added 10 as the Tempo (2-2) led by as many as 17 points in the second half and shot 47.5% from the floor in the game to avenge a 99-95 loss at Los Angeles on Friday.
Rice, who won an NCAA national title with UCLA last month and was the sixth overall draft pick in last month’s WNBA Draft, made her first career start in her return to Los Angeles.
Kelsey Plum scored 28 points and Dearica Hamby added 21 points with nine rebounds as the Sparks (1-3) completed their season-opening four-game homestand. Nneka Ogwumike scored 17 points and Kate Martin added 11 as Los Angeles shot 51.6% from the floor.
The teams combined to commit 59 fouls, while attempting 72 total free throws. The Tempo were 39 of 42 (92.9%) from the line, while the Sparks went 23 of 30 (76.7%). Sykes was 15 of 15 from the line after going 11 of 11 on Friday.
After falling behind 21-2 to open Friday’s game against the Sparks, the Tempo led by as many as seven points in the opening quarter Sunday and were up by 14 in the second. Toronto took a 49-40 lead into halftime behind 14 points from Sykes.
The Sparks improved their offense in the third quarter by scoring 27 points on 58.3% shooting, but the Tempo countered with 30 points of their own in the period to take a 79-67 lead into the fourth.
Toronto shot 40% from the floor in the third quarter and went 15 of 15 from the free-throw line. The Sparks were 12 of 15 from the line in the third.
A 10-3 run pulled Los Angeles within 89-83 on two free throws from Plum before Sykes answered for Toronto with five consecutive points and a 94-83 lead with 3:51 remaining as the Tempo closed out the victory.
–Field Level Media
