Sparks Lose to Rival Monarchs

The Los Angeles Sparks lost at the Arco Arena to their northern California rivals, Sacramento Monarchs by huge 18 points. In Thursdays 87-69 drubbing. Fatigue seemed to be a factor. After an overtime win Wednesday, over the Houston Comets, the Sparks had to catch an early morning flight back to Sacramento today. In the match against the Comets, the Sparks’ two main stars rookie Candace Parker, and Veteran Lisa Leslie had played Forty-two and thirty-five minutes respectively. Parker had 14 points and 11 rebounds, wile Leslie 7 points and 4 rebounds.The Sparks other go to player Delisha Milton-Jones, also played an uninspired 28 minutes, with only 3 points and 2 rebounds.

The Sparks had a season high 27 turnovers while the monarchs limited their mistakes to 14. The Sparks stayed with Monarchs for most of the first half, as the lead changed 10 times, and the game was tied at 43pts with 6 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, as the Monarch went to a 22 to 7 run. The 3rd quarter ended and exclamation point, as the Monarch’s Kara Lawson hit a rebound 3 point buzzer beater, that had hit the rim with a favorable bounce, back to Lawson from an her own 2 point shot attempt. Lawson had 13 points for the Night.

The Monarchs also out outscored the Sparks 22 to 19 in the 4th quarter. With this Loss, the Los Angeles’ win-loss ratio is 12-7. Sparks will drop in the WNBA’s  Western Conference Standing to 3rd Place behind the Seattle Storm, who had won their match against defending champions Phoenix Mercury, to improve their ratio to 13-7.

Other Notes from the Event:

• Crowed attendance for the match was 6,694
• Refs for event: #6 B. Spence, #42 R. Gulbeyan, #38 L. Simpson
• Delisha Milton-Jones of the Sparks, and Kara Lawson of the Monarch, both recieved their symbolic Olympic Jerseys before the start of Play. The official announcement had been made by the U.S Olympic Team earlier in the day.
• Sparks Head Coach Michael Cooper had the only technical foul of the day with 2:23 left in the 3rd quarter