Los Angeles (July 24, 2018) – The Los Angeles Sparks (15-11) fell to the Atlanta Dream (16-9) 81-71 Tuesday night at the Staples Center, as the Dream surged to their eighth straight victory behind 19 points from Angel McCoughtry.
The Dream got off to a hot start, taking 8-2 lead behind 3-pointers from Tiffany Hayes and McCoughtry. With the Dream leading 10-4, the Sparks went on a 9-0 run fueled by an assist and two baskets from Candace Parker to give Los Angeles a three-point lead (4:51). With Atlanta leading 19-18, Riquna Williams converted a three-point-play in transition to put the Sparks back ahead (1:15). A pair of Essence Carson free throws sent the Sparks into the second quarter with a 22-18 lead. McCoughtry led all scores in the frame with 11 points on 5-8 shooting.
Atlanta opened the quarter on a 6-2 run to tie the game behind McCoughtry’s sixth and seventh field goals of the game. With the Sparks leading 28-26 at the 6:23 mark, Carson drained a three to give Los Angeles its largest lead of the night at five points. With the Sparks up three, Hayes drained a long ball to tie the game at 33 with 3:28 left in the half. With 25 seconds left in the half, Carson connected on her third three-pointer of the quarter to secure a 41-37 halftime lead for Los Angeles. McCoughtry’s 15 led all scores at the break, while Carson and Parker each recorded 11 points.
The Dream scored four straight points to open the third quarter, forcing Sparks Coach Brian Agler to call a timeout at the 8:51 mark. After an exchange of baskets left the score tied at 47, Maria Vadeeva hit a short jumper to push the Sparks into the lead with 6:11 left. After baskets from Monique Billings and Imani McGee-Stafford put the Dream ahead, Odyssey Sims drained a straight-away 3-pointer to give Los Angeles a one-point advantage (2:34). A pair of Parker free throws gave the Sparks a 60-58 lead, but Brittany Sykes responded with a long, contested jumper with 19.9 seconds left to knot the score at 60 at the end of the third quarter.
For the first time in the contest, it was the Sparks who opened the quarter strong with two straight buckets to push their lead to 64-60 (8:48). After the Dream pulled to within one, Sykes drained an uncontested three to start a 13-2 run over five minutes of game time that gave Atlanta a 79-69 lead with 2:32 left. The Sparks could not respond, and the Dream went on to win their eighth straight game. It was the fifth straight home loss for the Sparks, a team that went 15-1 at the Staples Center in 2017.