Candace Parker and Tina Thompson lead as Los Angeles Sparks beat Phoenix Mercury 98-84 –WNBA Recap
Forward Candace Parker scored a game-high 22 points as the Los Angeles Sparks beat the Phoenix Mercury 98-84 at Staples Center on Friday night.
Parker also had eight rebounds, five assists, and two steals in the victory and scored 15 of her points in the second half. Tina Thompson also added 21 points and ended one short of a double-double with nine rebounds. DeLisha Milton-Jones
added 18 points, shooting 6-for-10 from the field and nine rebounds while reserve guard Kristi Toliver came off the bench with 17 points for Los Angeles. Toliver scored 15 of her points on three-pointers, going 5-for-9 from three-point range.
Phoenix forward Penny Taylor scored a team-high 18 points, eight rebounds, and four assists while guard Temeka Johnson scored 16 points, shooting 7-for-11 from the field, and grabbed six assists. Candice Dupree chipped in with
12 points and a game-best 11 boards while DeWanna Bonner ended with 10 points and nine rebounds for the Mercury, who has lost both games of the current season.
Los Angeles held a 24-18 advantage on Milton-Jones’ pair of free throw with less than four minutes remaining in the first quarter. Phoenix responded aggressively and went on an 11-6 run to take a 30-29 lead with 31 seconds to go
in the first period. Milton-Jones’ jumper in the closing seconds of the quarter gave the Mercury a one-point edge after 12 minutes.
The Sparks came out fantastic in the second quarter and stretched their lead to 45-35 with 03:33 to go in the first half. Both teams missed some easy shots in the next two minutes of the quarter. However, Los Angeles used an impressive
9-5 run in the last one and half minute of the quarter, capped by two three-pointers by Toliver, to move ahead 54-40 at halftime.
The main player for the Mercury Diana Taurasi could not find her rhythm this time as she walked away with just nine points, shooting 2-for-9 from the field. Taurasi’s performance in the second half of the game was the worse one
as she went scoreless and shot 0-for-5 from the field.
Los Angeles guard Toliver acknowledged it was their priority to stop Taurasi and said, "We were just trying to keep her frustrated." "We were throwing different looks at her. We have many big bodies on this team, so were able to
switch and keep big people on her at times, really keep her off the glass. That was definitely a major contributor of why the game turned out the way it did."
With their main player playing sloppy basketball, the Mercury could not get closer than nine points in the last two quarters of the game and the Sparks sealed an easy victory.
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