After picking up their first victory of the season, the Los Angeles Sparks have a chance to even their record when they play host to the Toronto Tempo for the second time in three days.
The Sparks (1-2) earned a 99-95 victory over the Tempo on Friday when Kelsey Plum scored 20 of her 27 points in the second half, while adding nine assists. Back from a two-season stint with the Seattle Storm, Nneka Ogwumike added 20 points.
The Sparks nearly squandered an early 19-point lead, as well as a 20-point advantage in the third quarter to the expansion Tempo when their lead dwindled to two points with 2:26 remaining. They held on by getting five points from Plum over the final 1:36.
“The goal is to put together 40 minutes,” Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts said about an early 21-2 lead before the close call at the end. “We haven’t done that yet this season, but the season’s early, we’ll get there.””
Dearica Hamby scored 19 points for Los Angeles, while Cameron Brink added 10 off the bench. Erica Wheeler also scored 10 points with seven assists while starting in place of Ariel Atkins (concussion).
After winning the first game in franchise history earlier in the week, Toronto (1-2) nearly rallied to win its first road game.
Brittney Sykes led the Tempo with 27 points against her former team, while Laura Juskaite, in her first WNBA season from Lithuania, scored 16 off the bench.
Nyara Sabally recorded 14 points and nine assists for Toronto, while rookie Kiki Rice scored 11 off the bench. After winning a national championship with UCLA last month, Rice was playing in her first professional game at Los Angeles.
The Tempo slowly chipped away at their deficit following the slow start but never led in the game.
“We were sleeping. It’s like we were already (in) bed in Toronto,” Tempo head coach Sandy Brondello said. “I have to get them more ready. That’s unacceptable. I was so proud of the fight back … but we did nothing that we had spoken about, so the starters have to do a better job come Sunday.”
After scoring at least 26 points in each of the opening two games, Marina Mabrey was held to seven points on 3-of-10 shooting, including 1 of 6 from 3-point range.
–Field Level Media
