Los Angeles Sparks run riot over Washington Mystics 101-70 – WNBA Recap
On Monday night at the Staples Center, Los Angeles Sparks, led by their rookie sensation Nneka Ogwumike routed the Washington Mystics 101-70 and improved to a 5-0 home record to start the season.
Ogwumike finished the game with 24 points and also had 7 rebounds to her name. Along with an impressive performance from the rookie, LA had 5 other players scoring in double figures which resulted in all around astounding team
performance.
“I think we did a really good job of containing a lot of their best players,'' said Ogwumike “We were having fun out there with our defensive stops. We were getting steals that turned into fast break points. I think that if we
continue to defend, then offense will really come easier for us.”
Jantel Lavender came off the bench to be the second leading scorer for Sparks. She finished with 16 points and also 6 rebounds in the game; Kristi Toliver had 15 points while Candace Parker chipped in with 11 points.
DeLisha Milton managed 13 points on a 5 of 7 shooting performance whereas Alana Beard managed to contribute 10 points to cap off an impressive night for the home team.
The most important factor that worked in favour of LA was their all around ball movement. They had a total of 25 assists which led to easy baskets as compared to Mystics getting only 16.
On the other hand for the Washington team, Michelle Snow managed 15 points while Noelle Quinn chipped in with 10. Natasha Lacy and Monique Currie also tried their best by coming off the bench to add 12 and 11 points respectively.
But the Mystics struggled against the LA defence for most part of the game and the result was a 31 point drubbing.
“That was about as good a defense as I've seen in a long time,” Carol Ross said. “It was just very impressive to take very good players in Ajavon and Langhorne - they just made their life miserable. It was a combination of a lot
of good team defense.”
In the early stages of the ball game both teams tried their level best to gain an advantage which resulted in the scored being equal for majority of the frame until the final minute when LA finally achieved some separation at 18-14.
The second quarter of the game was also a very closely contested affair up until the final minute of first half.
Sparks closed out the proceedings on a 7-3 run with 4 of those point coming from the free throw line to lead 44-36 at the mid way point. LA had a total of 19 free throw attempts in the first half.
Sparks were able to extend their advantage into double figures as they started the second half on a 12-4 run and were never troubled for the rest of the game. By the end of three quarters, LA were leading 73-52.
Holding a huge advantage would have meant that the home team would take their foot off the pedal but that was not the case in this one. LA even outscored Washington 28-18 in the final quarter to end the game with a huge 31 point
advantage.
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