Ivory Latta inspires Tulsa to a shock win over Los Angeles Sparks – WNBA Recap
Los Angeles Sparks gave up an 8-point half time advantage to surrender 99-85 against the lowly Tulsa Shock at the BOK Centre on Thursday.
Shock’s fill-in starter Ivory Latta turned out to be the major difference between the two teams with a double-double of 21 points and a career best of 14 assists. With half of her assists coming in the game changing third quarter,
Tulsa Shock also managed an impressive 3-point percentage (14-of-24) in comparison to Sparks’ 31.8 percent.
The Sparks started off slowly with Shock leading 6-0 in the first two minutes of the first quarter but caught up quickly to take the quarter 25-23. Helped by Kristi Toliver’s array of assists and Candace Parker’s shooting, Sparks
took the second quarter 25-19.
Toliver also emerged as the leading scorer for the Sparks at the end of the game with an impressive score of 21 points. But Toliver’s inability to score after half-time cost the Sparks heavily as 17 of her 21 points came in the
first half.
Sparks led 50-42 at half time. However, the game changed in the 3rd quarter which the Shock took 36-12. They reeled off a 9-0 run in a little over one minute towards the end of the quarter with all of those points coming
as a result of Latta’s assists.
As the 3-pointers kept on coming for the Shock, the Sparks never recovered from the offensive blitz. Jennifer Lacy, Riquna Williams and Amber Holt all chipped in with the scoring as the third quarter was Shock all the way.
Sparks, helped by Alana Beard and Candace Parker, tried to make a comeback in the fourth but it was too little too late for them.
The Shock took advantage of Sparks’ high turnover by scoring 27 points off their 17 turnovers. With seven of Shock’s players scoring in double figures compared to just four from the Sparks, it was an inspired performance by the
Oklahoma side (6-19) breaking a nine games winning spree for the Sparks (19-7) and surprising everyone with their third win in four games.
The loss took the Sparks away from the Minnesota Lynx (20-4) in a tight squeeze for the number one spot in the Western Conference.
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