It was the kind of offense they’d been chasing all season.
Cuts darted through closing doors, warping the Connecticut’s defense into knots, and the Sparks’ monster frontcourt threw its weight around and pounded out a 57-point stampede.
Rickea Jackson, with her wiry strength and burst, knifed past defenders as Dearica Hamby mixed bruising post work with feather-soft finishes and Azurá Stevens — the most versatile of the bunch — filled every gap. And as Jackson and Hamby created real estate down low, the Sparks’ backcourt dished out 22 assists.
Kelsey Plum even caught a groove in the third. Rae Burrell clawed her way into the lane for jabs that jolted her Sparks back to life.
With touches flowing from sideline to baseline, the Sparks kept their half of the scoreboard flashing in a wire-to-wire 92-88 victory over a flailing Sun squad.
There wasn’t much time to breathe at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday afternoon, whether decked out in white and purple or black and orange.
Not when every possession felt like a pendulum swing — the Sparks (6-14) surging and the Sun (3-18) countering with Bria Hartley’s steady hand on the perimeter and Saniya Rivers’ muscle inside.
Clinging to a fragile five-point lead, Julie Allemand elevated what could’ve been the dagger with 48 seconds left — a shot that would’ve ballooned the lead to eight.
Instead, it went to a jump ball, Jackson got charged for a personal, and Rivers went to the free-throw line. Drowned in the noise of a frenzied Crypto.com Arena, the rookie scored on only one of her two shots, keeping it a two-possession game.
Hamby could only find iron on the next possession.
Coming out of a Connecticut timeout, Stevens rebounded a 26-foot heave from Hartley that clanged off the rim. Hartley fouled Stevens.
True to her steady hand, Stevens buried both free throws to secure the win.
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