Highlights:
The San Antonio Stars are still a work in progress as they are still learning how to play together nine games into the season. However, a second half surge may be the answer Head Coach Vickie Johnson may be looking for – despite another loss.
Moriah Jefferson scored 24 points to lead a second half charge, but it was not enough as the Stars fell 80-75 to the Los Angeles Sparks in front of 9,104 fans inside the Staples Center on Thursday night.
Jefferson’s 24 points were a season-high as she connected on 4-of-5 shooting from three-point range. Isabelle Harrison chipped in a career-high 20 points and eight board in the loss for San Antonio, who remains winless on the season and is off to their worst start in team history.
San Antonio trailed 46-26 going into the third quarter, but used a 20-4 run sparked by back-to-back buckets by Jefferson to bring the Stars within six. Los Angeles would make several key baskets down the stretch to keep the Silver and Black out of the win column.
“I just told them to play together, play with confidence on both sides of the ball, most important thing,” Johnson said of her team’s second half. “The second half was a glimpse of how good we can be on both sides of the ball, and that’s the main thing: on both sides of the ball and not just on the offensive side, also on the defensive side.”
Candace Parker scored 20 points to lead the Sparks. Chelsea Gray and Nneka Ogwumike each scored 19 in the victory for Los Angeles (7-3), who will play San Antonio four times this season.
“We know that every team is going to make a run,” Parker said. “We have a saying that “they play basketball too” so of course every team is going to make a run but this game showed that our offense does have an impact on our defense. We were able to get some key stops in the 3rd quarter.”
Up next: The Stars are now 0-10 on the season and will return to the court on Sunday night when they travel to KeyArena to face the Seattle Storm to continue their three-game road trip.
