Tina Charles leads Connecticut Sun past Los Angeles Sparks 79-76 – WNBA Recap
Tina Charles scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed a whooping 23 rebounds as Connecticut Sun carved out a hard-fought 79-76 victory over Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday night at Mohegan Sun Arena.
Guard Renee Montgomery also chipped in with 17 points and five assists while Asjha Jones and Kara Lawson scored 16 points each for Connecticut, who also got nine boards from Forward Jones.
Kristi Toliver came off the bench with 19 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals to lead Los Angeles. DeLisha Milton contributed 13 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two blocks while LaToya Pringle ended the
night with 11 points and four rebounds.
Sun were at their defensive best in the game and limited the Sparks to just 37.3 percent from the field as compared to their 45.7 percent. Sparks shot 63.6 percent from free throw line in comparison to an 80 percent conversion
from Sun and that eventually proved to be the game decider.
Connecticut got off to a good start and scored the first four points of the opening period to take initial lead. They kept the Los Angeles defence under immense pressure and by the time Montgomery hit a pair of free throws midway
through the frame, the Sun snatched a 13-5 lead. The one way traffic continued throughout the rest of the period. Charles scored six points in the last two minutes of the first to ensure a ten-point lead, 23-13, going into the second.
Connecticut continued to play with intent and stretched their lead to 28-15 early in the second quarter. Los Angeles however bounced back in the passage that followed and outscored Sun 24-10 to take a one-point lead, 39-38, with
01:23 to go in the second period. Montgomery hit a three-pointer to put Connecticut ahead again but Toliver answered back with 3-pointer to put the Sparks one ahead, 42-41, at halftime.
Sun opened the third quarter on a 7-0 run however Los Angeles found support from their bench and pulled back to tie the game at 54-54 with 03:56 to go in the third. Connecticut carried a 60-59 lead into the fourth quarter, which
saw the teams scramble for every possession and point. In the end it all came down to the last minute of the game. Leading by 75-74 Montgomery slipped in a layup to make it a three point game and after Lacy drove to the rim for layup on the other end, she
calmly nailed two from the charity stripe to secure the win.
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