Following a victory over the WNBA’s best team, the Los Angeles Sparks will see if their improved performance has any staying power when they play host to the Atlanta Dream on Sunday.
The Sparks (7-24) earned a 94-88 victory over the visiting New York Liberty on Wednesday as Dearica Hamby scored 21 points and rookie Rickea Jackson added 19. Rae Burrell came off the bench to score 11 of her 18 points in the fourth quarter.
While the Liberty had already clinched a playoff spot, they are still battling for the top seed in the upcoming WNBA playoffs, so it was not as if they were completely without incentive.
“We’ve consistently shown that three quarters out of four quarters, we’re the better team on the floor, but we haven’t been able to close games,” said Hamby, who leads Los Angeles with 17.9 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. “This is what we have been talking about.”
The victory ended the Sparks’ seven-game losing streak.
The Dream (10-21) enter on a four-game skid but are 2-0 against the Sparks this season. Atlanta opened its season with a 92-81 victory at Los Angeles.
In an 83-72 road loss to the Las Vegas Aces on Friday, Allisha Gray scored 17 points with nine rebounds and Rhyne Howard added 12 points for the Dream. Atlanta shot 30.8 percent in the second half and 27.8 percent in a 14-point fourth quarter.
Tina Charles was not with the Dream for personal reasons and her status for Sunday remains unknown. Charles had just delivered her first career triple-double with 19 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists in a loss to the Seattle Storm on Wednesday. Friday’s contest was the first game she missed all season.
Lorela Cubaj received the start for the Dream and scored six points with three rebounds in 27 minutes while playing opposite the Aces’ A’ja Wilson, who scored 26 points with 16 rebounds.
The Dream’s Cheyenne Parker-Tyus remains out with a left ankle injury.
Despite winning just three times over their last 15 games, the Dream remain one game behind the Chicago Sky for the final playoff entering Sunday.
“We are doing a great job of forming an identity,” Dream head coach Tanisha Wright said this week. “… That’s going to be our focus moving forward.”
–Field Level Media