After losing to the Chicago Sky 82-59 on Thursday night, the Los Angeles Sparks traveled to Seattle to take on the Storm. Los Angels were able to pull off an 85-77 road win. The Sparks outscored the Storm 17-9 in the fourth quarter to take home the win.
Nneka Ogwumike led the Sparks in scoring with 24 points on 12-of-18 shooting from the field, Ogwumike was excellent throughout the game for Los Angeles. Los Angeles did a good job moving the basketball; they had 26 assists for the game. Ogwumike thinks Kristi Toliver running the point makes a big difference.
“I was just telling Katie Lou I said I really do think that we moved the ball well because Kristi brings the ball up, Ogwumike said”. When Kristi brings the ball up, she recognizes where people need to go. It’s almost as though she kind of orchestrates the play that needs to happen. We find each other well because she knows how to put us in good positions.”
Katie Samuelson had a good game and scored 17 points in 39 minutes. Samuelson shot 7-of-10 from the field and 3-of-5 from the three-point line. She also grabbed six rebounds and dished out six assists. Samuelson played an excellent floor game.
The Toliver and Brittney Sykes backcourt is starting to play well together; They’re starting to get a little rhythm with each other, coach Fred Williams said, you know, far as being in the backcourt and Brittney is one of those defensive specialist for us, and she’s also a big force offensively. I think she had like eight assists today, and that’s a good sign which you can mix it up and drive and score. Those two make it very tough for the opposition to sag off because you know Brittney can drive and put up a short jump shot. Toliver can really shoot the three from the outside.”
Toliver finished the game with 11 points and two assists, while Sykes added 15 points and eight assists. Oliva Nelson-Ododa played extended minutes off the bench and had eight rebounds while adding five points. She did a lot of the dirty work for the Sparks.
Breanna Stewart led the Strom in scoring with 28 points, and Jewell Loyd struggled, scoring just three points on 1-of-9 shooting. Sue Bird did not do much as well, adding just six points.
The Sparks did an outstanding job on the defensive end of the court; they were active and looked much quicker on defense than in games past. However, Los Angeles must continue to play tough defense like they did last year.
Follow me on Twitter: @raiderway83 and read other amazing articles on Beyond Women’s Sports.
