Allemand Posts Triple-Double, as Sparks Outshine Sun
WNBA Los Angeles Sparks

Allemand Posts Triple-Double, as Sparks Outshine Sun

Published on August 8, 2025 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Los Angeles Sparks News Release


Connecticut Sun (5-24) at Los Angeles Sparks (14-15)

Game 29 | August 7, 2025 | Crypto.com Arena | Los Angeles, CA | Spectrum SportsNet

Attendance: 10,780

Game Leaders:

Sun

PTS - Marina Mabrey/Tina Charles (19)

REB - Aneesah Morrow/Marina Mabrey/Tina Charles (7)

AST - Leïla Lacan (7)

Sparks

PTS - Dearica Hamby (21)

REB - Julie Allemand (10)

AST - Julie Allemand (11)

First Quarter:

To begin the first quarter, forward Dearica Hamby found guard Julie Allemand on a backdoor pass for a layup and the first points of the game

Hamby finished a putback layup at the 5:13 mark to put the Sparks in the lead, 14-13

Forward Rickea Jackson buried the Sparks' first triple of the game with 1:35 left in the quarter. On the next possession, Jackson drained another triple to retake the lead, 25-21

Forward Cameron Brink made her first impact of the game with two made free throws with six seconds remaining in the period

In the first quarter, the Sparks shot 58.8.% (9-for-16) from the field

Jackson led the Sparks with 12 first-quarter points on 4-for-6 shooting, 2-for-3 from deep and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line

Second Quarter:

Guard Kelsey Plum opened second-quarter scoring for the Sparks with a made free throw at the 7:40 mark

Guard Julie Vanloo made the first Sparks' field goal of the quarter with a three-pointer to make the score 40-33, Sun, with 5:52 left in the quarter

Guard-forward Rae Burrell got in on the action with a reverse layup assisted by Jackson

Jackson converted all three free throws after drawing a flagrant shooting foul from beyond the arc. Stevens then finished a three-point play to close the gap to 48-45, Sun, with 2:51 to go in the half

The Sparks went on a 13-0 run to take the lead, 49-48

The Sparks shot 50% (7-for-14) from the field and 87.5% (7-for-8) from the free-throw line in the second quarter

Jackson led all scorers in the first half with 17 points (5-for-8 FG, 2-for-3 3PT, 5-for-5 FT). Hamby paced the Sparks with a +7 rating in the half Allemand had a +8 rating

Third Quarter:

Stevens opened Sparks scoring for the quarter by draining a triple assisted by Hamby at the 9:22 mark

Jackson buried another triple with 6:46 left in the game to close the gap to 56-59

Hamby finished a fast-break layup assisted by Allemand at the 5:16 mark to take back the lead, 60-59

Los Angeles went on a 9-0 run from 7:21 to 4:33 to take the lead, 60-59

Stevens made her first triple of the game, cutting L.A.'s deficit to 64-63 with 3:51 to go in the quarter. On the next Sparks possession, Burrell made a three-pointer to give the Sparks' their third lead of the quarter

Plum extended the Sparks' lead to five after another made three at the 2:41 mark

After two consecutive offensive rebounds in one play, Brink drained a shot from beyond the arc, bringing the Sparks lead to 72-66

Stevens scored a game-high seven points in the third

The Sparks outscored the Sun 25-18, shooting 50.0% from the field and 41.7% from deep in the third quarter

Fourth Quarter:

Brink recorded a vicious block on Leila Lacan, then drilled a three-pointer on the ensuing Sparks possession, returning the lead to the Sparks 77-74

A few possessions later, Brink finished a driving and-one assisted by Allemand with 6:28 left in the game, completing a three-point play and extending the Sparks lead 84-76

Allemand dished a no-look pass to Plum for a wide-open triple, widening the Sparks lead to 89-78

With her 10th point of the game, Allemand secured the Sparks' first triple-double of the season and fifth in franchise history

Los Angeles led by as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter, outscoring Connecticut by six on 66.7% (10-for-15 FG) shooting from the field and 60% (3-for-5 3PT) from deep

Main Takeaways:

Julie Allemand became the 22nd player in WNBA history to record a triple-double with 10 PTS (5-for-7 FG), 10 RBS and 11 AST with just one turnover. The Belgian guard's stellar performance amounted to her first double-double and triple-double of her career. She is the fifth Spark in franchise history to record a triple-double, joining Lisa Leslie, Candace Parker, Chelsea Gray and Layshia Clarendon. Allemand posted a game-best +21 rating

With the win, the Sparks have won eight of their past nine games and move into a tie with the Valkyries for the eighth and final playoff spot. Los Angeles is 31-31 against Connecticut all-time after winning the first three matchups this season

The Sparks recorded their most points scored in regulation with 102 and have now won seven games by double-digits. Los Angeles has now scored 100+ points in five of its last six contests

With seven rebounds, Azurá Stevens now ranks 10th all-time on the franchise's rebounds list. Posting a +16 rating, Z also contributed 10 points and tallied two blocks for her third consecutive multi-block effort and 11th of the season

Rickea Jackson notched 20 points on 50% (6-for-12 FG) shooting from the field, 60% (3-for-5 3PT) from three-point land and 100% (5-for-5 FT) from the free-throw line

Dearica Hamby recorded 21 points (8-for-11 FG, 5-for-6 FT), five rebounds and four assists in 24 minutes played

Kelsey Plum added 18 points (6-for-12 FG, 3-for-7 3PT) and five assists

Rae Burrell recorded 9 points (3-for-5 FG, 1-for-1 3PT, 2-for-2 FT) along with three rebounds and one steal

Cameron Brink recorded a season-high 11 points (3-for-4 FG, 2-for-2 3PT, 3-for-3 FT), along with five rebounds and two blocks

The Sparks outscored the Sun 48-32 in the paint and shot 56.5% overall from the field

The contest featured 12 lead changes and six ties

Pregame Quotes:

Head Coach Lynne Roberts

On Cameron Brink's impact offensively & defensively:

"Defensively, I can't overstate how great it is to have [Cameron Brink]. It's not just that we're aware of what she's capable of defensively, but the other team is too. You saw it against Indiana [with] Aliyah Boston's determination to get to the bucket on other players, versus when Cam's guarding her, it was like, 'eh, no thanks'... those don't count as blocks or anything, but it is affecting the outcome of the game. Cam has a lot of confidence in that. And I think as you're coming back from an injury, it's all about confidence and getting your rhythm back, and so I've just implored her to focus on that. The shots will find you. I just told her again, I don't care if you go 0-for-6. I really don't, because you're impacting the game defensively, and it's impacting winning. I want her to take pressure off the offensive end, because it will come. I know what she's capable of."

On the team's successful stretch of games as of late:

"I think momentum is a powerful thing and it's not coincidental that we started playing better and more confident when we got Rae Burrell back, when we got Cam [Brink] back, and... [Julie] Vanloo brings a punch. Julie [Allemand] back from Eurobasket. Talent matters. That certainly helps, but I also think there's been a different level of buy-in to what we're trying to do and how we want to play, and they're having success with it, which just builds more buy-in. And we're continuing to get better. Defensively, we still need to continue to get better, but we are incrementally better. We're improving, and so my message to them is always show them what they're doing great, highlight those things, and continue to build confidence. But also, keep our foot on the gas with improving and ways we need to get better as we go down this stretch. We're in the hunt, and we cannot relax or think that we've arrived, because we haven't."

On Azurá Stevens' role in this offense:

"Azurá [Stevens] is a total pro, and talk about even-keeled, you know? Her hair could be on fire, and she'd walk to the water fountain, which is her superpower. That's why she makes those big shots and because she just never gets rattled. But with her, I had those conversations of, 'you're gonna thrive in this, because you're gonna have the green light to shoot,' and that's where her confidence comes from. But what you've seen, because she's had success with that, is she's way more aggressive defensively. She's rebounding better. She's rotating defensively. It's feeding her other areas of the game where maybe she wasn't as confident. But she's been absolutely huge for us. From the corner, I think she's shooting, like, 56% from corner three. Both sides, those are ridiculous numbers. Her True Shooting the other day was 119%. That's pretty impressive. She's playing at a great clip, like I've said, even if she doesn't go 5-for-5 from three, the other team's gonna be flying out at her, and it's gonna open up space for other guys. So proud of her, and she's a perfect fit for what we're doing."

Postgame Press Conference Quotes:

Head Coach Lynne Roberts

On the Sparks' playoff push:

"[Playoffs is] the goal. We'll manifest that. I'm proud of this group. We've hung in there, and as I've said, didn't lose sight of the big picture when we had all those injuries and just a lot of adversity. People like Dearica [Hamby] holding it down, and [Kelsey Plum], and Azurá [Stevens]. Julie [Allemand] was gone with Eurobasket, and she was injured for a while. We've had a lot of adversity in that sense, and took some tough losses. But it's a great group. They're good people, and they want this team to do well. Julie's the picture of that... for her to come out, she was just dialing today. She was really good. It was impossible in the second half to take her out of the game. I know she's tired, but she was just unbelievable - 11 assists and one turnover, and the rebounds, just all of it. We've just stayed steady, and these guys have hung in there and trusted me, and trusted the process with it, and so it's very rewarding, but I'm just really proud of them."

On Cameron Brink's all-around performance:

"[Cameron Brink] was good. She just brings a different level, just a different look defensively, and everybody knows she's in there. That gets in your head as an offensive player. Even if you score, you're aware that she was there and you got lucky. But she altered a couple shots, too, and then it was really fun to see her offensively get going. I know she's been waiting for the shots to fall, and I know she was frustrated the first time she shot it in the second half. I don't remember if it was blocked or what, but she missed it and she was frustrated. But the mental toughness to come back and shoot the open three and hit the roll. That pass from Julie was beautiful. And the and-one, that just shows mental toughness, and she's only in her second year and hasn't played a whole lot. So I've been impressed with her. What a luxury for us to bring her into games."

On how impactful rebounding is to the ball game:

"The rebounding's huge, and I was upset after the first quarter, because we weren't finishing plays. I thought we were doing, for the most part, what we were supposed to be doing and we just didn't finish. They were playing a little harder than we were down there, and they've got some really good rebounders. They had eight offensive rebounds in the first quarter and finished the first half with eight, so we did a better job, we cleaned it up. I heard that Azurá [Stevens is] top 10 in franchise history now with rebounds, Dearica [Hamby] [rebounds], it's gang rebounding, like we're not relying on one person, we've all got to do it. The message is always, 'if you want to score, you gotta get the ball.' It's hard to run and play with pace if you're taken out of the net, right? So let's be one and done, finish the play. If we want to win and continue to win, we've got to continue to rebound. We can't come out, and then [remember] in the second quarter, 'oh, that's right, we gotta box out.' You can't do that in this league, and that gave Connecticut life and confidence and all those things. So we've got to be a little bit better, but we fixed it. But I'm gonna preach rebounding until I retire. It's an absolute top-tier reason for winning."

Julie Allemand

On recording the first triple-double of her career:

"The first part of the season I had surgery, [and] it was tough to come back [from], then I went to Eurobasket and it helped me a lot...so when I came back, I just wanted to play and be the same as I was over there. That's what I'm doing right now and I'm feeling way more comfortable in this team. So yeah it's been great, but the most important is the win and tonight was an important one. It wasn't easy, but we were more focused in the second half [defensively], and I think that's why we won this game. We know on offense we're good... so if we are focused on defense and we can run, then it's gonna be easy, and I think that's what we did tonight...That's amazing, and I just hope that we're gonna keep going like this. We have an important game coming up."

On the team's growth over the season:

"We can see that on the court it's getting better and better. But it's not only about Kelsey [Plum] and I, I think it's about the team and what we have to do for the team. We have to trust the process, it takes time. It's a new group, it's a new coach. It doesn't come [quick], so that's why I think now we're healthy. So that's why we can see the difference right now. It was the right momentum for us, and it's been nice. If you don't trust the process, then it's gonna be difficult. We had losses, but we were still like, 'okay, we're still growing up as a team.' So now we can see that the work we've put in before is finally helping us right now."

Dearica Hamby

On her contribution to the team's success:

"We know how talented this team is, and to be able to play 23 minutes and have everybody else come in and still be efficient and contribute, that's what it's gonna take to win a championship and to continue to build a championship culture. I want to do what I have to do to win, [which means] just try to just continue to lead by example."

On the Sparks winning eight of the last nine games:

"Since the beginning of the season, I've been optimistic about what this team can look like, and why I want to be here, and why I'm going to continue to be here. And I know I've compared this team to the 2022 Aces team, just having so much firepower and being one of the fastest teams we've seen. We've scored 100 points in five out of the last six games. So we're not done yet, we got a lot more to accomplish, obviously, but I think Sparks basketball is back."

What's Next?:

The Sparks visit the Golden State Valkyries Saturday, Aug. 9 (5:30 p.m. PT) before returning to Crypto.com Arena for a two-game homestand against the Seattle Storm Aug. 10 (5 p.m. PT) and the New York Liberty Aug. 12 (7 p.m. PT).

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Women's National Basketball Association Stories from August 8, 2025


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