Sparks win on the road, beat Seattle 72-66 in WNBA season opener

Game Stats at a Glance | Recap |  Box score | Efficiency | Twitter Recap

Points in the Paint: Sparks 30, Storm 28
Second Chance Points: Sparks 5, Storm 7
Fastbreak Points: Sparks 8, Storm 6
Biggest Lead: Sparks 6, Storm 21
Lead Changes: 1
Times Tied: 1
Attendance: 9,686

	FG%	FT%	3 PT%	Assists	Rebs	TO
Los Angeles	40%	75%	31%	13	27	14
Seattle	44%	78%	43%	17	36	27

The Los Angeles Sparks won the first game of the 2012 WNBA regular season defeating the Seattle Storm 72-66  in front of a crowd of 9,686 fans at KeyArena Friday night.

Seattle built an 11-0 lead early in the game and it took the Sparks about four minutes to score. At the end of the first quarter the Storm led 24-10. The Sparks suffered from poor shooting and were turnover prone. At the half, Seattle had an 11-point lead, 35-24.

For three quarters it seemed the Storm had the game in their pocket. However, they squandered a 21-point lead in the third largely due to a slew of turnovers and an increase in offensive production by the Sparks. Los Angeles produced late third quarter and early fourth quarter runs and Candace Parker tied the game up at 62 all with a tip-in at 2:53 in the fourth quarter. A little over a minute later, Kristi Toliver gave Los Angeles its first lead, 64-63 at the 1:38 mark, with a baseline reverse layup. The Sparks outscored the Storm 30-10 in the last period.

Toliver led all scorers with 25 points, 10 of them in the fourth quarter. She also had six assists. Candace Parker scored 11 points and pulled down four rebounds.

For Seattle, Ann Wauters led with 17 points and seven rebounds. Sue Bird finished with 15 points, six rebounds and six assists. Former Sparks forward Tina Thompson, in her first year in Seattle, had 12 points and 8 rebounds.

The Storm have a chance to exact revenge when they travel to Los Angeles for the Sparks’ home opener on Tuesday, May 22.

Player Efficiency

Sparks  72 Box Score Storm  66
Player MIN EFF K. Toliver 34 +25 N. Ogwumike 18 +11 D. Milton-Jones 24 +10 J. Lavender 22 +9 C. Parker 25 +7 E. Hoffman 18 +6 A. Beard 35 +3 M. Coleman 24 +3	Player MIN EFF S. Bird 34 +17 A. Wauters 31 +17 T. Thompson 28 +12 C. Little 37 +11 S. Stricklen 15 +8 T. Wright 28 +6 V. Dunlap 4 +1 K. Smith 21 0 E. Kobryn 2 0

LOS ANGELES SPARKS (1-0)
	POS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	+/-	OFF	DEF	TOT	AST	PF	ST	TO	BS	BA	PTS
N. Ogwumike	F	18:17	3-6	0-1	3-4	-1	0	3	3	0	2	3	1	1	0	9
D. Milton-Jones	F	23:34	1-7	0-3	2-2	+6	0	7	7	2	2	5	2	0	1	4
C. Parker	F	24:59	5-12	0-1	1-1	-12	2	2	4	1	1	1	4	1	0	11
A. Beard	G-F	35:08	2-7	0-1	5-7	+9	1	0	1	1	4	2	4	1	1	9
M. Coleman	G-F	24:16	1-5	0-1	2-2	-11	1	0	1	2	1	1	1	0	1	4
J. Lavender		21:59	4-8	0-0	0-0	+21	1	4	5	0	1	0	0	0	0	8
K. Toliver		33:31	9-16	5-8	2-4	+17	0	2	2	6	1	3	2	0	0	25
E. Hoffman		18:16	1-4	0-1	0-0	+1	1	3	4	1	1	1	0	1	0	2
N. Anosike	DND – DAY TO DAY, KNEE STRAIN
A. Sykes	DNP – COACH’S DECISION
S. Zoll	DNP – COACH’S DECISION
Total		200	26-65	5-16	15-20		6	21	27	13	13	16	14	4	3	72
			40.0%	31.2%	75.0%		TEAM REBS: 7			TOTAL TO: 14

SEATTLE STORM (0-1)
	POS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	+/-	OFF	DEF	TOT	AST	PF	ST	TO	BS	BA	PTS
T. Thompson	F	27:41	4-12	4-8	0-0	-6	0	8	8	1	4	1	4	2	1	12
C. Little	F	37:08	1-3	0-0	4-5	0	1	5	6	1	1	2	1	0	0	6
A. Wauters	C	30:42	8-12	0-0	1-2	+1	2	5	7	2	3	0	5	1	1	17
S. Bird	G	34:12	6-14	3-7	0-0	+4	0	6	6	6	1	1	3	0	0	15
T. Wright	G	27:41	3-10	1-3	2-2	-13	0	5	5	3	2	1	5	0	1	9
K. Smith		21:11	0-2	0-2	0-0	-7	0	0	0	4	1	0	2	0	0	0
S. Stricklen		14:59	2-2	1-1	0-0	-3	0	3	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	5
E. Kobryn		02:24	0-0	0-0	0-0	-3	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0
V. Dunlap		04:02	1-2	0-0	0-0	-3	1	0	1	0	2	0	1	0	1	2
A. Clark	DNP – COACH’S DECISION
L. Jackson	NWT – AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIC TEAM
Total		200	25-57	9-21	7-9		4	32	36	17	15	6	22	3	4	66
			43.9%	42.9%	77.8%		TEAM REBS: 8			TOTAL TO: 27

Officials: #39 Michael Price, #13 Cameron Inouye, #21 Byron Jarrett
Time of Game: 1:57

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