The Sparks were handed their second loss of the season, 87-78, by the Indiana Fever on Wednesday night. The last time the Sparks started a season 0-2 was back in 2023. That year, they went 8-32.
Rae Burrell opened LA’s offense with a layup. Caitlin Clark was cooking early for the Fever with seven points. Burrell was leading Los Angeles with four points. Nneka Ogwumike and Kelsey Plum both drained triples for the Sparks.
At the 4:38 mark, the purple and gold were down by four.
Plum continued to dominate
offensively with four more points, putting her at seven points so far. Cameron Brink had an electric block on Clark that had the crowd buzzing.
LA found themselves down by four at the end of the first. Nneka and Plum lead the Sparks with five and seven points, respectively. Los Angeles led Indiana in the fastbreak points battle, four to two.
Dearica Hamby converted on a layup to start the scoring for LA in the second period. The Fever responded with five points in a row, extending their lead. Hamby was surging in this quarter, scoring on another layup for a total of eight points in this half.
Sophie Cunningham’s seven points off the bench were helping keep Indiana in the lead.
At the 5:24 mark, the Sparks were down by eight. Los Angeles’ kryptonite was turnovers, as they were up to seven. LA had no answers for Kelsey Mitchell, who was now at 14 points and the first player from either team in double figures.
Los Angeles was piling on the turnovers with 10 in the half. The Sparks were two of 10 from behind the arc. At halftime, the purple and gold were down by 14.
After the clock hit zero in the first half, Clark was given a technical foul, so Plum opened the third period, converting on the technical free throw. Mitchell was having a stellar night with 19 points for the Fever. Indiana was winning the quarter with 24 points to Los Angeles’ 14 points.
Nneka was the only Spark able to make some offense in an otherwise rough offensive quarter for LA. She added four points, trying to help give some life to Los Angeles. There were plenty of foul calls in the quarter as well, which didn’t allow much of a consistent flow to the game.
At the 3:31 mark, the Sparks were down by 19. Brink and Chance Gray converted on back-to-back, much-needed layups for LA.
At the end of the third, LA hadn’t done much to cut the deficit to something manageable. They were down by 16.
The final frame began with Cunningham draining a triple. Ariel Atkins was out for the remainder of the game after suffering a head injury in the third quarter. Hamby converted on a three-point play, but once again the Fever scored on the other end.
Plum put LA on her back, scoring eight points to help cut the deficit to 13. The Sparks did a great job on Aliyah Boston all game long as she fouled out with just four points, all free throws.
There was 3:32 left for Los Angeles to extend what seemed to be a comeback happening.
Plum put LA on her back, scoring eight points to help cut the deficit to 13. The Sparks did a great job on Aliyah Boston all game long as she fouled out with just four points, all free throws.
There was 3:32 left for Los Angeles to extend what seemed to be a comeback happening. LA cut the deficit to single digits with 2:10 left. Los Angeles was on an 11-3 scoring run that had them within seven with 1:23 left.
Plum had the ball and missed a shot from behind the arc that would’ve cut it to four. On the other end, Mitchell converted on a layup. Despite Burrell also making a layup, LA couldn’t complete the comeback.
Key Player Stats
Plum finished with 25 points and four assists. Hamby ended with 16 points and eight rebounds. Nneka scored 10 points with five rebounds and three steals. Burrell pitched in with 10 points. Brink had 11 points with five rebounds and three blocks.
The Sparks’ next game will be against the Toronto Tempo on Friday at 7:00 PM PT.
You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.
