LOS ANGELES — The Sparks’ offensive drought in the first half proved too much to overcome in a loss to the expansion Golden State Valkyries on Friday night.
The game was a rematch of last week’s season opener in San Francisco, but the visitors turned the tables on the Sparks this time, avenging a 17-point loss with an 82-73 win at Crypto.com Arena.
Dearica Hamby led the Sparks (1-3) with 25 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots, but they were outscored 25-9 in the second quarter. Kelsey Plum, who had 37 points when the clubs met last week, had 16 points on an off shooting night (6 for 18 from the field, 2 for 10 from 3-point range) to go with four steals, and Odyssey Sims added 13 points. Azura Stevens had a team-high 10 rebounds to go with six points.
Carla Leite scored 19 points and fellow WNBA rookie Janelle Salaun added 18 points and eight rebounds for Golden State (2-1). Kayla Thorton finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds and Veronica Burton added 12 points and five steals.
The first quarter was a game of runs – a 7-1 run from Golden State to start the game and an 11-0 run from the Sparks that gave them a 20-9 lead. The Valkyries then outscored the hosts 40-15 for the rest of the half.
The heart of the run bridged the first two quarters, with Golden State using an 8-1 spurt to get within 26-24 by the end of the first quarter. The Sparks were then held scoreless for almost the first 7½ minutes of the second quarter as the Valkyries opened a 42-26 lead. Salaun made a pair of 3-pointers during the 18-0, period-opening run before Hamby made a 4-foot shot with 2:36 left.
The Sparks started the second half down by 14, but they shot 38.7% from the field for the night and had 18 turnovers, which made it hard to sustain momentum.
Golden State led by as much as 20 points before going cold while the Sparks came alive. Thornton made a floater that gave Golden State a 73-58 lead with 6:43 left in the fourth quarter, but the Valkyries went scoreless for the next five-plus minutes.
Plum hit a 3-pointer and Hamby scored five points during a 14-2 run to get within 73-68 with 2:32 to play, but Thornton made three free throws with 1:33 remaining for a 76-68 lead and Burton and Salaun combined for six more free throws to close out the win.
Hamby scored 11 of the Sparks’ 20 points in the fourth, but for the second game in a row, their comeback attempt came up short. They have lost three straight since beating Golden State, 84-67, in the season opener.
UP NEXT
The Sparks will host Chicago (0-2) on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m.
More to come on this story.