Dearica Hamby and Sparks defeat Mystics to stay in | College News
The Sparks gained a important sport Sunday, defeating the Washington Mystics 81-78 to keep their slim playoff hopes alive heading into the ultimate two weeks of the common season.
Washington hit a trio of three-pointers in the ultimate minute, but Dearica Hamby‘s jumper in the paint and Kelsey Plum‘s two free throws in the final 20 seconds were enough to seal a Sparks win.
Hamby led the Sparks with 20 points and 12 rebounds, recording her 11th double-double of the season. Plum added 18 points, four rebounds and seven assists. Rickea Jackson contributed 16 points and Azurá Stevens had 12 rebounds.
“Dearica was just a beast on the boards and finishing in traffic with those and-ones,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said. “She’s just so strong and athletic.”
It was a important win for a ninth-place Sparks workforce that is 2 video games behind the Indiana Fever for the ultimate playoff spot with six video games remaining.
The Sparks (18-20) in all probability will need to win all of their remaining video games to have a probability at the postseason. And their closing slate isn’t straightforward. It contains back-to-back highway checks against Atlanta this week and video games against Phoenix and Las Vegas to close the common season.
They also need the Fever (21-19), Valkyries (21-18) and Seattle Storm (22-19) to lose. Golden State, which beat Indiana on Sunday night time to transfer forward of Seattle and into sixth, also owns the playoff tiebreaker after profitable the season sequence against the Sparks.
A win over Seattle on Monday night time would help the Sparks’ trigger.
Before Sunday’s win, Roberts wished to see better pacing from her workforce. She received that, along with better shot execution. Unfortunately, 13 turnovers allowed the Mystics to stay on the Sparks’ heels most of the sport.
The Sparks got here out strong in the first quarter, building a double-digit lead of 13 factors.
Washington (16-25) responded in the second quarter and tied the sport 24-24. Plum then break up a pair of free throws to put the Sparks forward and they pulled away to take a 40-31 lead by halftime.
The Sparks continued to stay forward in the third quarter, but six factors from Kiki Iriafen coupled with a Stefanie Dolson three-pointer gave Washington a 56-55 lead with 8:21 left. The Sparks retook the lead before a Sonia Citron three-pointer tied the rating at 61-61 with 5:35 remaining.
Hamby then made a couple of free throws and scored on a two-foot layup to put the Sparks forward for good.
Iriafen completed with 22 factors and 13 rebounds, securing her fifteenth double-double of the season. Shakira Austin added 11 factors and seven rebounds. Citron chipped in 12 factors.
With some a lot at stake in days forward, Stevens is aware of the Sparks can’t afford to lose their focus.
“We know the circumstances, but all we can control is the next possession,” Stevens said. “Just taking it day by day and really focusing on us, our defense, our rebounding, our pace on offense.”
Roberts also would love to see more from her gamers Monday night time against Seattle.
“We’ve got to be better at putting teams away and not making it a close game, but we took care of business [tonight],” Roberts said.
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