Despite heating up in the fourth period, the Sparks lost 78-71 to the Atlanta Dream on Monday night.
LA ended the game with just 15 points off the bench, all belonging to Cameron Brink. Los Angeles finished the game with 11 turnovers. They shot 38% from the field and only 16% from behind the arc.
On the other side, Angel Reese set a WNBA record by grabbing 26 rebounds, eight of those on the offensive glass. She also set the single-season rebounding record for the WNBA in the contest as well.
The game
began with Jordin Canada knocking down a midrange jumper for Atlanta. Dearica Hamby responded on the other end with a layup. Neither team was shooting well from the field, with the Dream sitting at 33% and LA at 22%. Los Angeles was playing well defensively, though, with four steals as a team.
With 4:26 left, the Dream were up by two.
Allisha Gray was leading Atlanta with five points and Hamby led the Sparks with three. Brink provided a nice spark off the bench with four points and three blocked shots. Led by Rhyne Howard, the Dream went on an 11-2 scoring run.
The Dream were up by five at the end of the first.
LA started the second frame scoring five in a row, erasing the deficit. Reese stopped that quick run with a layup. Hamby was the first player for either team to enter double figures with 11 points.
Los Angeles went on an 11-3 scoring run to build a six-point lead. The Sparks only had three turnovers to Atlanta’s nine.
With 2:30 left in the half, LA was up by three. They were shooting 57% from the field in the quarter and outscoring the Dream by nine in the frame. Luckily for Los Angeles, Reese and Howard hadn’t gotten hot offensively, only having eight and six, respectively.
At halftime, the purple and gold led by only one.
Naz Hillmon started the second period with a layup. On the other end, Nneka Ogwumike responded with a midrange jumper. Atlanta went on a 16-4 scoring run early to take the lead.
Gray led the charge for the Dream with five points, pushing her total to 16 points.
Los Angeles was down by eight with 4:29 left. They were being outscored 15-6 in the period. Nneka and Hamby were still the only two Sparks in double figures. LA’s only bench production came from Brink with seven points.
At the end of the third, the Dream were up by seven.
The final frame began with Atlanta scoring seven in a row to open up a double-digit lead. The Sparks were forced to take an early timeout to stop some of the bleeding.
An 8-0 scoring burst from Los Angeles cut their deficit to eight with 4:50 left. Atlanta responded by scoring four in a row. Brink continued her stellar play, scoring again on a midrange jumper. She had all 14 of the Sparks’ bench points.
At the 2:50 mark, the Dream were up by 10. Atkins drained a triple that gave Los Angeles some hope, but Reese put the final dagger in LA’s heart with a layup late.
Key Player Stats
Nneka ended with 27 points and 16 rebounds. Hamby finished with 15 points, three rebounds and three assists. Brink pitched in with 15 points, eight rebounds, two assists, three steals and five blocks.
Atkins did the dirty work with two steals while dishing six dimes. She also scored 10 points. In her first start for the purple and gold, Monique Akoa Makani scored two points and nabbed two steals.
The Sparks’ next game is against the Washington Mystics on Friday at 7:00 PM PT.
You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.
