Kelsey Plum scores 28 points, but Sparks lose to

The Sparks have been decided to end a season-opening four-game homestand with their second straight win against Toronto. Instead, the enlargement Tempo avenged a four-point defeat two days earlier with a 106-96 victory Sunday afternoon at Crypto.com Arena.

Guard Kelsey Plum, who began the day tied for the WNBA lead in scoring at 26.3 factors per sport, paced the Sparks with 28, Dearica Hamby scored 21 and Nneka Ogwumike added 17 factors and seven rebounds.

Trailing by 13 at one level in the fourth quarter, the Sparks cut the deficit to six on Plum’s two free throws with 4:27 left, but they bought no nearer. The Sparks fell to 1-3 (tied with Seattle for last place in the Western Conference) while Toronto improved to 2-2.

“We’re four games in so it would be immature to panic,” coach Lynne Roberts said. “It’s a long season but we do need to have urgency out there.”

The Tempo outscored the Sparks 9-3 in the last three minutes of the first quarter to take a 27-21 lead and widened the hole to 14 factors on Laura Juskaite’s jumper with 4:28 left in the second. A Hamby three-point shot at the halftime buzzer rimmed out and the Sparks headed to the locker room down 49-40.

Rae Burrell dedicated her fifth personal with 4:33 left in the third and Kia Nurse made both free throws to give the Tempo their largest lead, 65-49. The margin grew to 17 before the Sparks closed the quarter with a 13-8 run.

After a 27-point efficiency in the first sport, Brittney Sykes had 14 factors by halftime in the rematch and completed with a career-high 38. Guard Kiki Rice, who led UCLA to the national championship in early April, added 19.

Toronto received the sport at the foul line, making 39 of 42 makes an attempt (92.9%) in contrast to 23 of 30 for the Sparks, who held a 26-25 edge in rebounding, a 48-38 benefit in factors in the paint and outscored the guests 20-12 on second-chance factors.

“That was ugly… hard to watch,” Roberts said of the free throw discrepancy. “Seventy-two [total] free throws? I get it, they’re trying to clean it up but it’s painful. I’m not saying we weren’t fouling just that it’s challenging.”

The Sparks are still lacking offseason acquisition Ariel Atkins (concussion protocol) and ahead Sania Feagin has been out with a left leg pressure since Wednesday. Atkins, a two-time All-Star, was traded from Chicago for Rickea Jackson on April 12.

“We’re going to have to have resilience,” said Plum, who had 27 factors, 9 assists and three steals in Friday’s win. “This league is tough. You’re going to get punched but you have to take it and punch back.”

Guard Erica Wheeler made her second start, contributing 4 factors and seven assists and Hamby grabbed a game-high 9 rebounds.

“It felt good… my teammates made it an easy transition,” said guard Kate Martin, who joined the Sparks one week prior after being cut by Golden State and bought her first factors with her new staff, netting 11 in 18 minutes of motion. “I don’t care how many points I score, I just want to win.”

In their first yr under Roberts the Sparks completed 21-23 last season — a 13-game enchancment from 2024 — but they missed the playoffs for a fifth straight time, marking the longest postseason drought in franchise historical past. Plum averaged 19.5 factors and 5.7 assists per sport.

“The beauty of this is that it’s a process,” Roberts added. “We opened up with four games at home and we didn’t take care of business. We can feel sorry for ourselves or we can fix it.”

The Sparks start a four-game journey Thursday in Phoenix, then journey to Las Vegas on May 23, Washington on May 29 and Connecticut on May 30 before returning home to host Las Vegas on June 2.