Silver Stars-Sparks Preview

By JEFF BARTL
Posted Jun 24 2012 2:02AM

The Los Angeles Sparks had a disappointing 2011, due in large part to an injury that kept Candace Parker out for most of the season.

They're hoping her latest setback isn't nearly as bad.

It's unclear if Parker will play in the second of a back-to-back when Los Angeles seeks a fourth straight win Sunday night against the visiting San Antonio Silver Stars, who have won seven of the last nine meetings.

The Sparks (10-3) got a career-high 29 points from Kristi Toliver in Saturday's 93-84 win over Phoenix. Parker, among the league leaders with 19.8 points per game, didn't play because of a sore knee.

Parker played only 17 games last season due to a right knee injury as Los Angeles finished 15-19 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2007 - the year before Parker became the first player to win MVP and rookie of the year in the same season.

The Sparks, winners of eight of 10, hope their star player isn't out for more than Saturday's game, but Toliver said they are prepared if Parker needs more to time to heal.

``With Candace being out, then people need to step up a little bit and make up for her absence, and I think that as a team collectively we did that,'' Toliver said. "We got a little lackadaisical in the second half and Phoenix stepped up. There are definitely things that we have to get better at.''

Parker scored 21 points and added 11 rebounds in a 98-85 overtime loss to San Antonio on June 16, when the Silver Stars outscored the Sparks 15-2 in the extra session.

San Antonio has had plenty of success against Los Angeles in recent seasons, and it is in the midst of playing three of four games versus the Sparks. The Silver Stars' next contest will be at home versus Los Angeles on Thursday.

San Antonio (4-5) fell 82-76 at Seattle on Friday for its fourth straight road loss. Jia Perkins scored 20 points on a cold-shooting night for leading scorer Sophia Young, who finished 2 for 11 from the field but 12 for 12 from the free-throw line to finish with 16 points.

"We just have to lift each other up. Everyone isn't going to make shots, but we can still win the game not making shots," Perkins said. "We can do the little things - play good defense and get some big buckets."

Becky Hammon added 14 points for the Silver Stars, who shot 35.1 percent after hitting 46.2 percent of their shots against the Sparks.

``I thought we did a good job of handling their runs and coming back, we just couldn't get control of the game,'' coach Dan Hughes said.

Hammon and Young scored 24 points apiece in the latest victory against Los Angeles, and Alana Beard led the Sparks with 23 points.

San Antonio's only road win came against league-worst Tulsa on May 19.

Young leads Silver Stars 91-71

Posted Jun 24 2012 11:55PM

LOS ANGELES (AP) Sophia Young scored 20 points to lead four players in double-figure scoring as the San Antonio Silver Stars handed the Los Angeles Sparks their first defeat at home. 91-71 Sunday night.

The Silver Stars (5-5) led wire to wire and snapped a four-game road losing streak. They won consecutive games for the first time this season and improved to 2-0 against Los Angeles.

The Sparks (10-4) were attempting to start 7-0 at home for the first time since 2006. They had won eight consecutive at home dating to last season.

Young scored 13 points in the second half. She made jumpers to give San Antonio leads of 76-60 and 80-64. Shameka Christon matched a season high with 16 points. Danielle Robinson added 14 points and Becky Hammon 12 points and 10 assists.

The Silver Stars came out with energy and withstood a brief run when the Sparks closed to 47-44 early in the second half on a breakaway basket by Alana Beard. San Antonio led by double digits from 64-54 on.

Young, coming off 2-for-11 shooting in the previous game, made 7 of her 11 field goal attempts.

``L.A's a great team,'' Young said. ``(But) our focus and mentality was to be aggressive from the start. I thought we competed. I thought we were physical.''

Candace Parker returned for the Sparks after she sat out Saturday with a sore knee, but was held to five points and four rebounds in the second half. She finished with 15 points on 6 of 17 from the field, and 15 rebounds.

The Sparks, the second-best free throw shooting team in the WNBA, made only 8 of 18 attempts. They also allowed San Antonio to shoot 48.6 percent from the field and make eight 3-pointers, four by Christon.

First-year Sparks coach Carol Ross has made defense a priority and she was disappointed with the energy level, although Los Angeles was playing the second of back-to-back games.

``If you can't sustain defensive energy, it's hard,'' Ross said. ``It was a combination of anemic offense and unenergized defense.

``Clearly San Antonio was very good right out of the gate and they took the game over early. We were not ready for whatever reason. That's my responsibility.''

San Antonio coach Dan Hughes said his team is more rested than the Sparks. The teams will meet again Thursday and the schedule picks up for the Silver Stars, who will play five games in the first eight days of July. But Hughes likes the progress he sees.

``I think we're a team that is coming together in different ways,'' Hughes said. ``We're a team that relies on our bench, so I think it takes us longer to get into a groove. We've been on the road a bit, and this Western Conference is extremely challenging.''

San Antonio induced L.A. into six fouls in the third quarter as Young led a balanced attack with seven points and four rebounds. Hammon made a 3-pointer to beat the 24-second clock to cap a 7-0 run for a 54-44 lead.

Los Angeles couldn't respond after that and watched San Antonio score the most points against them this season. The Sparks entered Sunday allowing only 70.6 points per game at home.

``They probably came in here with extra motivation,'' DeLisha Milton-Jones said. ``Maybe they wanted to take that away from us. . This game is not going to break us. We're going to use this and grow on many different levels.''

Milton-Jones scored 13 points but sat out a long stretch of the second half with foul trouble. April Sykes scored 11 points in a reserve role.

The Silver Stars took a 42-36 lead into halftime after they weathered a 12-3 run by the Sparks late in the second quarter.

Christon scored 11 points in the first half, including three 3-pointers in the first quarter, before she sat out the entire second quarter.

• Silver Stars: --
• Sparks: --

• Silver Stars: --
• Sparks: --

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 3

• Arena: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
• Officials: #18 Kurt Walker, #45 Tom Mauer, #41 Cheryl Flores
• Attendance: 11301
• Duration: 1:53