The New York Liberty visited the Los Angeles Sparks for their first game post All-Star weekend last night, and the jersey retirement for Delisha Milton-Jones. After the Sparks jumped out to a 9-2 lead, the rest of the first quarter was a slugfest and the Liberty would win the quarter 36-30. The Sparks were much better defensively in the second quarter holding the Liberty to only 17 points and scoring 26 points of their own taking a 56-53 lead heading into halftime. In the third quarter, the offensive slugfest continued with the Liberty outscoring the Sparks 32-28 and taking an 85-84 lead into the final frame. In the fourth quarter the Liberty would outscore the Sparks 29-25 and hold onto the lead despite the Sparks efforts to come back after the Liberty were leading 105-94 with just over 3 minutes left in the game but they couldn’t get over the hump, and the Liberty held on to win 113-109. The Liberty got balanced scoring with 5 players in double-digits led by Breanna Stewart who had 29 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 steals, and 3 blocks, Sabrina Ionescu put up 27 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists, Rebekah Gardner put up 15 points on 5-6 from the field, 4 assists, and 2 rebounds off the bench, Han Xu had 13 points (11 in the first quarter) on 5-10 from the field, 3-6 from beyond the arc and 3 rebounds, Marine Fauthoux scored a career-high 13 points on 4-6 from the field, and 3-4 from three and grabbing three rebounds. Jonquel Jones was also really good, finishing with 9 points on 4-6 from the field and 1-2 from three, grabbed 5 rebounds, and dished out 6 assists. The Sparks had extremely balanced scoring with six players scoring in double-digits led by Rae Burrell who tied a career-high with 24 points, grabbed 3 rebounds, and dished out 5 assists, Nneka Ogwumike scored 21 points on an extremely efficient 9-12 from the field and 3-5 from three, grabbed 4 rebounds, and tied a career-high with 9 assists, Erica Wheeler scored 17 points on 6-9 from the field and 4-5 from deep, and dished out 9 assists, Ariel Atkins put up 16 points on 6-8 from the field and 2-4 from three, grabbed 5 rebounds, and dished out 5 assists, Dearica Hamby put up 12 points on 5-11 from the field, and dished out 4 assists, Cameron Brink scored 11 points off the bench on 5-9 from the field, and grabbed 6 rebounds. The Liberty had a season-high 17 made threes and shot 53% from deep as a team. The Liberty improved to 16-12 on the season while the Sparks fell to 10-17 with their sixth straight loss.
Next up:
The New York Liberty continue their West Coast trip and visit the Las Vegas Aces tomorrow night at 10 PM EST broadcast on Prime.
The Los Angeles Sparks start a 3-game road trip heading to play the Portland Fire on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 PM EST broadcast on NBC and Peacock.
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