There remain only two undefeated teams left this season in the WNBA. One of those teams plays in Southern California.
The Los Angeles Sparks, fresh off a blowout 97-67 home victory over the Seattle Storm—a game that saw Candace Parker drop 34 on the Emerald City’s team, began a four-game roadtrip that saw the team travel to the Verizon Center to play the Washington Mystics.
Parker only scored eight points and shot a mere three out of 10 from the field—but she did put in nine rebounds. Los Angeles also has Kristi Tolliver, who scored 19 points on seven of eight shooting. The Sparks also got 10 each from Alana Beard and Nneka Ogwumike as they scored another blowout victory, defeating the Washington Mystics, 96-66.
After emphatically defeating the Mystics in the DMV, Los Angeles’ next stop was a few hours north on I-95 from DC—some place called New York City, I believe, and some arena called Madison Square Garden.
There would be no big blowout in the Big Apple against the Liberty, but in the battle of the WNBA’s top two markets, the Sparks stayed in the win column by virtue of a 79-72 victory over New York.
This one went to overtime with the two squads all knotted up at 65 apiece. Los Angeles doubled up on the Sparks in the overtime period, outscoring New York 14-7. Both Ogwumike and Parker finished with double-doubles (25 points and 15 rebounds, 14 points and 12 rebounds, respectively).
For New York, it was a 17-point, 16 rebound, three-assist and three-steal showing for Tina Charles.
The Lynx also advanced to 3-0, but it was not easy to defeat the Seattle Storm at Key Arena. Minnesota, who defeated the Phoenix Mercury by 19 and the Chicago Sky by 17 only bested the Storm by seven on Sunday night.
Throughout the game, the Storm hung tough with the defending champions, but thanks to 17 points and nine rebounds from Maya Moore plus 15 points with eight rebounds courtesy of Sylvia Fowles, the Lynx managed to remain undefeated.
Alysha Clark scored 20 and Breanna Stewart recorded her second double-double with 14 points and ten rebounds. She recorded her first (14 points, 13 rebounds) in a game that saw Jewell Loyd go for 30 (including the game-winner) as the Storm got in the win column, 81-80 over the Phoenix Mercury.
Despite another big game from Diana Taurasi who scored 25, the Mercury remain one of two teams this season who have yet to find themselves in the win column.
Deep in the heart of Texas, its two teams did battle against each other this past Saturday in Arlington for the first-ever home opener of the Dallas Wings as they faced the San Antonio Stars. The home opener of the Wings also coincided with the return of Skylar Diggins for Dallas. The crowd erupted in cheers when Diggins took the floor late in the first quarter.
Diggins played just under 12 minutes in the game.
As for Odyssey Sims, she concluded with 23 points, including making 11 of 12 from the free throw line as she led her team to an 82-77 victory over San Antonio.
A big difference in the decision of this game was free throws attempted and free throws made. Dallas made more shots from the charity stripe (24) than the Stars attempted (19). Also in attendance was WNBA president Lisa Borders.
Dallas won despite a 29-point outing from Kayla McBride—who is now at 22 points per game.
For Washington, they managed to rebound from the loss to Los Angeles to earn its first victory of the season—an 84-76 victory on the road against the Connecticut Sun.
This one, too, went to overtime, before Washington’s defense forced the Sun into a three-for-12 cold spell from the field along with forcing a couple of Connecticut turnovers.
Tayler Hill (24), Bria Hartley (16), and Emma Messeman (40) scored 54 of the Mystics’ 88 points. For Connecticut, they got 18 from Alyssa Thomas, 13 points and nine rebounds from Jasmine Thomas, and a double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds) from Kelsey Bone.
Offense and defense clicked for the Indiana Fever on Friday in its 94-85 win over the Atlanta Dream. Led by the 14 points of Tamika Catchings (and making five of her six from the line), the Fever had seven players put up double-digit points.
Passing the basketball was also a strength of the Fever in this game as they racked up 19 assists. These went along with 17 steals on the defensive end.
The Dream on Sunday had better fortunes against the Chicago Sky at home at Philips Arena. Angel McCoughtry’s 21 points and Layshia McClendon’s 15 (plus eight rebounds) led the now 2-1 Atlanta Dream to an 87-81 win against Chicago.
The two teams combined for 18 blocks this game. The Sky had 11, including five that came in the first quarter and four by Elena Delle Donne. She also had 16 points. Cappie Pondexter led Chicago with 17.
In the Sky’s first two games this season, they only made one three-point shot. Chicago made five despite the loss at Atlanta’s Highlight Factory.
By: Akiem Bailum (@AkiemBailum on Twitter, Instagram)
