Sparks Push Past the Sun in Overtime
A bunch of bad habits resurfaced in the Sparks on Monday night. They were careless with the ball, unable to sustain any second-half momentum and gave the Connecticut Sun plenty of opportunities to steal a road victory.
If this had been last year’s veteran Sun team, that victory might have been theirs. But this is a Connecticut squad with seven new players, including five rookies. And they let the Sparks escape with a 76-74 overtime victory in front of 8,862 at Staples Center.
Spark center Lisa Leslie, who had 15 points and 14 rebounds, made a key block on Katie Douglas in the last second of regulation and scored a three-point play to open the overtime period. Nikki Teasley, who led the Sparks with 17 points, made a critical three-point shot at the 3:26 mark that gave Los Angeles (6-4) a 70-66 cushion.
The Sun was never able to catch up to Los Angeles, although Jennifer Derevjanik could have forced a second overtime had she made an open layup with less than four seconds to play.
Connecticut forward Nykesha Sales led all scorers with 19 points but couldn’t keep the Sun’s record from falling to 4-6.
Spark Coach Michael Cooper could take solace in his team’s third consecutive victory, which put L.A. back in a tie with Houston for second place in the Western Conference.
But there were other signs -- 26 turnovers, lapses in poise (such as Teasley’s flagrant foul on Derevjanik late in the second half) -- that he doesn’t want to escalate on the Sparks’ next road swing, which begins Friday at Phoenix.
“It was a game we could have lost, but the ladies pulled together,” Cooper said. “Connecticut is one of those teams [that make] it difficult for you to play. They are a very physical team and one that won’t go away.
“There are things we need to work on, but there’s always that one team that just bothers you. They are that team for us.”
It was understandable if the only thing Connecticut wanted to do Monday was get on a plane and go home. The Sun was finishing up a four-game trip through the West that had taken it through Phoenix, Seattle, Sacramento and Los Angeles. They were playing their third game in four nights.
They were still without starting point guard Lindsay Whalen. The talented rookie had come down with a virus that caused her to be hospitalized with a 104-degree temperature and miss the last three games.
Meaning the Sun had plenty of built-in excuses for having a subpar night.
Los Angeles looked set to run Connecticut’s legs early, using an 11-0 run to take a 20-9 lead with 13:54 to play in the first half. The Sun spent the rest of the first half closing the gap, drawing within two points, at 36-34, by halftime.
Connecticut had a chance to tie the score, but Derevjanik missed a layup with six seconds left -- a harbinger of things to come. Still the Sun was close despite the Sparks shooting 50% in the half (14 for 28) and outrebounding Connecticut 19-10 (and 41-25 for the game). The Sun stayed in the game thanks to turnovers; it had only five as the Sparks amassed 13 in the half.
The second half hardly resembled basketball; it was more of a rugby scrum. That benefited the Sun, which played scrappy and feisty while the Sparks’ offense stagnated, and their fouls and turnovers piled up.
“I thought it was the Lakers vs. Detroit out there,” Cooper said. “A very brutal game that took all our effort.”
Connecticut regained the lead by one, at 51-50, on a free throw by Sales, and took its biggest lead, a four-point edge at 62-58, on two free throws by Taj McWilliams-Franklin with 1:42 to play.