Chicago (July 22, 2018) – After falling in a heartbreaker Friday night to Indiana at the buzzer, Candace Parker scored 23 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and dished out seven assists to lead the Sparks to a 93-76 win on the road in front of her family.

Odyssey Sims and Chelsea Gray hit 3-pointers in the early moments of the first quarter to give the Sparks an early lead. The Sky got several uncontested layups to take a 12-8 lead and force a timeout from Sparks coach Brian Agler. A 3- pointer from Essence Carson, who scored 13 points in the first half, cut the lead to 14-13, but Sky center Stefanie Dolson hit back-to-back elbow jumpers and Diamond DeShields nailed a triple to give the Sky a 19-13 lead. The Sparks ended the first quarter on a 7-3 run to pull to within 22-20 going into the second quarter.

An Odyssey Sims layup gave the Sparks their first lead of the second quarter at 25-24 before a Cheyenne Parker 3- pointer gave the Sky the lead right back. A Courtney Vandersloot basket plus the foul gave the Sky a 36-30 lead. A Jantel Lavender long two capped an 8-2 Sparks run to tie the game at 38-38 and force a timeout from Sky coach Amber Stocks. Odyssey Sims made a leaning layup in the closing moments of the first half to give the Sparks a 40-38 halftime lead.

After the Sky scored the first basket of the second half, Carson hit another 3-pointer followed by back-to-back transition opportunities for Los Angeles to give them a 47-40 lead, their largest of the game. On the next play Sims stole the inbounds pass and found Gray for a driving layup. A high-low leaping alley-oop between Lavender and Parker gave the Sparks a 58-48 lead. A Riquna Williams 3-pointer, the Sparks first bench points of the game put the Sparks up 61-49. Chicago answered with a 7-2 mini-run before Odyssey Sims hit a floater. Sims had her season high for July with 16 points to help the Sparks take a 71-59 lead into the final period.

Maria Vadeeva scored six points early in the fourth and a Parker runout gave the Sparks a 79-62 lead, seemingly breaking open the game. But Chicago went on a 9-1 run to cut it to 80-71 with four minutes left. Parker stopped the bleeding by drawing a foul and connecting on both free throws. The Sparks pulled away as a Sims drive put the Sparks up 88-73 with 1:05 remaining to ice the game.