The Los Angeles Sparks completed their five game stint at California State University, Long Beach with a win against the Washington Mystics with a score of 70-68 on Tuesday.
Due to the renovation projects happening at Crypto.com Arena, the Sparks have made the Walter Pyramid on the campus of Cal State Long Beach their temporary home until the renovations are finished.
Even though this is the Sparks last game in Long Beach, the team enjoyed playing at the Pyramid.
“Oh yeah, it’s so homey here. We are just very grateful that they let us use their facility, everyone was just very welcoming. Super thankful,” power forward Dearica Hamby said.
During the first half, the Sparks struggled with seven turnovers and giving up multiple offensive boards to the Mystics.
The Sparks then worked their way back by improving their transition defense, making shots and outscoring the Mystics 38-32 in the second half.
“I think we just picked up the pace, we had such dangerous threats in every position. They [Washington Mystics] came and punched us first but we confronted those runs upfront,” point guard Lexie Brown said.
The third quarter ended with a score of 57-57 leaving the game wide open.
The Sparks were up by eight points in the fourth before giving up three consecutive turnovers which cut the lead to one point.
The intensity in the arena then rises up when Cameron Brink makes a foul from her block at 1.1 seconds left in the game.
“She’s unmatched with size. She was big tonight offensively, I know she had some turnovers late in the game but I’m just really comfortable with her on the floor right now,” LA Sparks coach Curt Miller said.
Three seconds were put on the clock but the Mystics missed the final shot attempt leading to the Sparks wrapping up the night with a victory and a score of 70-68.
“We knew that possession was a must stop, credit to the whole team because we locked in and communicated and got that stop at the end,” Brown said.
Even with this victory, the team believes there are some things to work on before facing the Indiana Fever on Friday
“I think it’s pretty obvious, our turnovers,” Hamby said when being asked what she’d want to fix with the team before facing Indiana Fever. “It’s going to be really hard winning games in this league in the long term if we don’t.”
The Sparks will be returning back to Crypto.com Arena where they will be facing the Indiana Fever on Friday.