Marina Mabrey dominates as Sparks drop fifth straight game

The Sparks couldn’t outlast the Sun on Tuesday as Marina Mabrey’s huge night was enough for a Connecticut win.

Behind red-hot shooting from Marina Mabrey, the Sun pulled away from the Sparks after a slow start to earn a comfortable 86-66 win. Mabrey led all scorers with 26 points while shooting 9-13 from the field and 6-8 from range.

Rickea Jackson passed Nneka Ogwumike to move up to second in franchise history for the most points scored in a rookie season. She scored 16 points on 7-11 shooting from the field.

Dearica Hamby had 12 points on 5-11 shooting with five steals. Azurá Stevens grabbed an impressive 17 rebounds with her 10 points.

The game started with both teams trading baskets and the lead. The Sparks had very balanced scoring with Stevens and Hamby leading the charge early.

Jackson and Sims began to heat up offensively as well. Los Angeles went up by eight after multiple great plays, including a fastbreak with Hamby passing to Jackson for a layup. Connecticut, though, scored six straight points to cut the deficit to two at the end of the first.

The Sun extended their run to 14-0 to start the second. Marina Mabrey’s instant offense put Connecticut up six. The mistakes this young Sparks team typically makes in the second half of games seemed to be seeping into the first half.

Los Angeles did begin to fight a little harder and seemed to find some more life, cutting the deficit to eight after the Sun had gone up 10. Mabrey’s strong quarter continued as she converted on a layup to restore the Sun’s 10-point lead.

Connecticut had extended their lead to 16, but five straight points by the Sparks helped them cut the deficit to 11 into halftime.

Connecticut’s lead went back up to 16 to start the second half. One positive for the Sparks was Stevens’ monster rebounding game. A three from Stevens had cut the deficit to 13, but LA couldn’t contain the great offense from the Sun, who kept having the answers.

A pair of free throws by Li Yueru cut the deficit to 10, but another three by Mabrey pushed it back to a 13-point game. The Sparks had proven they could play great defense against this team, but they started falling asleep with their defensive assignments.

LA was down 19 at the end of the third.

The final frame did not begin as the Sparks would have liked it to. They quickly fell behind by 21. A pair of threes from Mabrey gave her six on the night. She was the significant difference maker for the Sun being able to keep such a big lead.

Zia Cooke, who hasn’t had enough playing time, was subbed into the game and scored seven points in nine minutes of action. That was the only positive thing to take from another dismal fourth quarter.

Key Takeaways:

The team continues to make the same mistakes each game, so there’s not much else to take away. The rest of these games should be looked at as games to improve.

Stevens’ big rebound game was spectacular. She was the only player from the team to rebound in double digits.

The Sparks’ next game will be against the Seattle Storm on Wednesday at 7:00 PM PT.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.