Rickea Jackson scored on a tightly-contested layup at the buzzer, leading the Los Angeles Sparks to a 101-99 win over the host New York Liberty on Saturday night in Brooklyn.
New York’s seven-time All-Star forward Breanna Stewart left the game in the first quarter and did not return due to an injury to the lower part of her right leg. She played just over three minutes and scored three points — 16 below her average – and pulled down one rebound. Kennedy Burke replaced her and finished with two points in six minutes.
New York coach Sandy Brondello did not have an update in her postgame comments, no did she give specifics on the nature of the injury.
“Hopefully, she’ll be OK,” Brondello said.
It was the fifth straight win for the Sparks, who have scored at least 90 points in each of those contests.
Jackson had 17 of her team-high 24 points in the first quarter, but she cooled off after that … until she made the game-winner in the lane, flipping the ball in with her back to the basket.
Kelsey Plum added 20 points, and Dearica Hamby and Azura Stevens added 17 points each for the Sparks. Stevens added a game-high 11 rebounds, and Hamby had 10 boards.
Also for the Sparks, Julie Allemand had a game-high 10 assists — one short of her career high.
Sabrina Ionescu scored a game-high 30 points for the Liberty, who had their five-game win streak snapped.
The Liberty trailed by 15 points in the first half and battled back to tie the score late in the fourth quarter, but their defense could not contain the Sparks.
Natasha Cloud played inspired ball for the Liberty with 22 points and nine assists.
The Liberty finished 6-2 in an eight-game homestand.
The Sparks were the more rested team as they hadn’t played since Thursday. New York, meanwhile, played its second game in two nights.
Los Angeles won the first quarter, 35-20, including a 13-0 run. The Sparks shot 68.4 percent, including 7 of 10 on 3-pointers.
The Sparks remained hot in the second quarter and went into halftime with a 58-45 lead.
With 3:08 left in the third quarter, Ionescu hit a 3-pointer that appeared to cut New York’s deficit to 65-64. However, Jonquel Jones was called for an illegal screen, negating the 3-pointer. Ionescu screamed at the referee and was hit with a technical foul, which Plum sank for a 66-61 advantage.
That stunted New York’s momentum, and the Sparks led 74-69 after three periods. The Sparks shot just 29 percent in the third, including 0-for-6 on 3-pointers.
In the fourth quarter, New York tied the score at 95 on a three-point play by Ionescu with 2:18 left, and she sank a 17-footer to even the score at 99 with 23.1 seconds left before Jackson’s winning shot on Hamby’s assist.
–Field Level Media
