It was another night like that for the , a feeling they’ve felt all too often this season as they were swept by the Connecticut Sun, 86-66, on their home court at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday night.
Entering their two-game series against Connecticut as an unofficial “playoff” series, the Sparks held a lead for much of the first quarter, trailed by just two points at the end of the period and looked primed to take on the No. 2 team in the league for the second time in three days.
“Coming out in the first quarter, I thought we did a lot of the things we wanted to do,” Sparks coach Kurt Miller said, “(We) felt like we had good conditioning going into what we viewed as Game 2 of the playoffs.”
It took 80 seconds for everything to come crashing down.
The Suns jumped out to an 8-0 lead early in the second quarter and the gap never closed.
On Sunday night, the Sparks led for most of the game, then collapsed in the fourth quarter, but the Suns dominated them until the end. Leading the way was Marlena Mabry, who came off the bench to power the team with a career-high 26 points, two rebounds and four assists. Breonna Jones (19 points, eight rebounds) and Di’Jonai Carrington (14 points, five rebounds) also contributed offensively.
“I thought (Mabry) played with a better tempo and took advantage of some of our mistakes defensively,” Miller said. “She’s a really good scorer. When she gets going, it’s hard to get her to settle and she starts making contested shots… You could tell tonight she was really comfortable and in her flow.”
Mabry and Connecticut were calm but did their best to make it hard on the Sparks. Against an aggressive Connecticut defense, they were marred by turnovers again, losing the ball 15 times and giving up 22 points off turnovers. The bench was outscored 37-20. The Sun outplayed them inside, scoring 48 points in the paint. The Sparks were outrebounded 32-23 and were outplayed in every facet of the game.
It was a reminder of how young and inexperienced the Sparks are as a team, still in the early stages of a rebuild. Azura Stevens was one of the few rays of hope, recording a double-double with a career-high 17 rebounds and 10 points. Rookie Crystal Dangerfield added 11 points in 18 minutes.
Tuesday’s loss was just one of many similar disappointing results this season, and the Sparks are already turning the page, playing the remainder of the 2024 season with the future in mind.
“We were eliminated from the playoffs. There’s a lot of negatives, but there’s also a lot we can move forward from,” Stevens said. “… We’ve talked about how to stay positive after a lot of games and keep moving forward and stuff like that… How can we keep that positive energy going into what we’re trying to do and finish the year with pride?”
Miller added that while he can’t promise when the trees will bear fruit, he is confident in the roots he’s planted since taking over a year ago.
“We have to be patient,” he said. “It’s never easy for the fans or for us. I’m a builder and I’ve built a lot of programs and I’m not used to losing. But we’ll get there and I’m proud of the hard work behind the scenes that’s not often visible in what’s going on. It will pay off.”
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