WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – Down by five later in the fourth, Chelsea Gray hit numerous clutch shots on the way to a career-high 29 points to lift the Sparks to a 78-73 road win. The game was at 8 a.m. PT after a cross country flight Sunday as the Liberty were hosting a School Day event for students in the New York area. Tina Charles led New York with 21 points and 14 rebounds.
Sydney Wiese scored the first points of the game with a 3-pointer and added another triple minutes later. She finished with a season-high eight points. Both team struggled from the field in a low scoring first quarter, except for Chelsea Gray who scored six points off creative drives to the basket. The Liberty held Los Angeles to 31.8% from the field and took a 19-16 after the first quarter.
The second quarter started as a defensive struggle before Alexis Jones scored and got fouled on a baseline to drive to tie the game at 21-21. Jones would go on to score a season-high 10 points. A Chiney Ogwumike jumper gave the Sparks their largest lead of the game at 29-23, but New York responded with a 6-0 run to tie the game at 29-29. The Sparks responded with a Tierra Ruffin-Pratt 3-pointer and two free throws from Nneka Ogwumike after Tina Charles was charged with a Flagrant 1 foul, giving the team a 34-29. The Liberty responded with a 5-2 run to close the half and the Sparks took a 36-34 lead into intermission.
Chelsea Gray scored on a spinning drive to open the Sparks scoring in the second half, but a Kia Nurse 3-pointer gave the Liberty a 39-38 lead. Los Angeles responded with a 7-0 run on jumpers from Wiese and Gray, before Tina Charles completed a 3-point player followed by a Brittany Boyd steal and score to force a timeout by head coach Derek Fisher. The game seesawed back and forth in a series of mini-runs by both teams and the Sparks took a 57-55 lead into the fourth quarter.
A Rebecca Allen 3-pointer early in the fourth gave the Liberty a 60-59 lead, before Kalani Brown responded with a basket inside. The Liberty responded with a 6-0 run to go up 66-61, their biggest lead of the game. A Gray 3-pointer cut it to 66-64, but Amanda Zahui B answered with a triple of her own to give the Liberty a 69-64 lead. The Sparks ripped off a 7-0 run, capped by a Gray three and layup to put the Sparks up 71-69 with 2:04 remaining and force a Liberty timeout. Gray sank another 3-pointer to go up 74-69 and closed out the game with several free throws. The Sparks now travel to Connecticut to play the Sun on Thursday.