Postgame Notes & Quotes
WNBA Los Angeles Sparks

Postgame Notes & Quotes

Published on September 5, 2025 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Los Angeles Sparks News Release


Los Angeles Sparks (19-22) at Atlanta Dream (28-14)

Game 41 | Sept. 5, 2025 | Gateway Center Arena | College Park, GA | ION

Game Leaders:

Sparks

PTS - Dearica Hamby (26)

REB - Azurá Stevens (8)

AST - Julie Allemand/Dearica Hamby (5)

Dream

PTS - Rhyne Howard (37)

REB - Brionna Jones/Naz Hillmon (9)

AST - Jordin Canada (8)

Key Takeaways:

Dearica Hamby tallied 26 points (11-for-15 FG), seven rebounds and five assists. It was her fourth consecutive game with 20 or more points

Kelsey Plum notched 20 points (6-for-6 FT) and three assists. With two triples on the night, the eighth-year guard passed Nicole Powell for 14th on the WNBA's all-time 3PM list

Rickea Jackson scored 17 points (6-for-9 FG, 4-for-4 FT) with two blocks and one steal

Julie Allemand recorded nine points (4-for-8 FG), five assists and one steal

Azurá Stevens secured a team-high eight rebounds, continuing to lead the game in 5+ rebound games with 38 of 41

Alissa Pili notched a season-high-tying six points in five minutes. Her six free throws (6-for-6) mark a career high

The Sparks shot 46.0% from the field and 84.0% (21-for-25) from the free-throw line, attempting 13 more free throws than their opponents

First Quarter:

Guard Kelsey Plum kicked off Sparks scoring with a step-back jumpshot to tie the match, 2-2

After trailing 2-0, the Sparks went on a 6-0 run to take a 6-2 lead

Forward Dearica Hamby finished a three-point play to cut Los Angeles' deficit to 19-17. She matched her career high for assists in a quarter with four in the first, also scoring seven points and grabbing two rebounds

Forward Rickea Jackson scored seven of the Sparks' last 10 points in the quarter. The second-year wing led all Sparks scorers with nine points on 4-for-5 shooting

Forward-center Azurá Stevens recorded a quarter-high five rebounds, tying with Naz Hillmon

L.A. shot 52.6% from the field in the opening quarter

Second Quarter:

Stevens drained a three-pointer with 6:35 left in the half to make the score 43-33, Dream. Plum followed up with one of her own on the next Sparks play to shorten the Dream's lead to single digits

Plum made another shot from beyond the arc with 29 seconds remains in the quarter, cutting the Sparks' deficit to 55-50

Hamby scored a team-high 18 points (8-for-10 FG) in the first half and a game-high-tying five boards

Los Angeles shot 52.6% from the field in the opening half and only turned over the ball twice

The Hamby-Jackson-Plum trio combined for 43 of the Sparks' 52 first-half points

The Sparks outscored the Dream 24-18 in the paint

Third Quarter:

Jackson scored Los Angeles' first four points of the quarter with a reverse layup and two free throws

Plum drove to the basket for a layup that tied the game for the first time since the first quarter, 58-58. After the Sparks trailed 43-30, they went on a 28-18 run to tie the score at 58

Guard-forward Rae Burrell poured in her first points of the game with a three-pointer to make the score 77-69, Dream

Plum finished the period with a team-high eight points (2-for-3 FG, 4-for-4 FT)

Through three quarters, the Sparks shot 51% (26-for-51 FG) from the field and 88.2% (15-for-17 FT) from the free-throw line

Fourth Quarter:

Forward Alissa Pili started off scoring in the final quarter with two free throws

Guard Julie Allemand scored the Sparks' first points from the field at the 4:51 mark with a three-pointer off an assist from Plum

The Sparks bench contributed seven points and six rebounds in the final quarter

Allemand led all scorers in the fourth quarter, notching five points (2-for-3 FG, 1-for-2 3PT) in less than six minutes

L.A. committed just one turnover in the final quarter

The Sparks limited the Dream to 25.0% (5-for-20) shooting in the fourth

Pregame Quotes:

Head Coach Lynne Roberts

On players' energy being in Atlanta:

"It's kind of been a weird trip - it's felt long and being in one place feels unique, feels strange. But it's been good, we've gotten some good rest and recovery. I know everyone's anxious to get home just to get back into the west coast time zone and all the things, but hopefully it pays off that we've had some time to not have to get on a plane or get on a bus, change hotels, etc. We've never done it [before], so ask me at about 10 p.m. how it went."

On Dearica Hamby's impact this season:

"She's unbelievable, and she's just a joy to coach, because she'll do whatever, whenever, however. She works so hard, plays so hard, and is just great in the locker room. I think she's figured out how to use her uniqueness of being super athletic [and] playing in space. Her game is not back to the basket, bang on the block kind of post-play, it's catch it in space and use your athleticism to finish. She just plays so dang hard all the time. Her free throw shooting has improved, she's shooting a decent percentage from three, she just picks and chooses when she does it. She's rebounding well. She's one of three players in the league [that has] 4,000 points, 2,200 rebounds, 650 assists [and] 350 steals while shooting 49%. Her, Candice Dupree and Nneka Ogumike are the only ones that have ever done that, so she's in elite company. She's having a career year. The fact that she wasn't an All-Star is comical at this point, but... she deserves to get some postseason awards."

On the talk of Azurá Stevens being Most Improved Player of the Year:

"She is very deserving of that award. I've mentioned this before, but to me, improvement doesn't mean a different opportunity. If you're in one place and you go to another place, and then you're playing more and you have a different opportunity, that doesn't necessarily show improvement, right? It just shows opportunity. So for Azurá, her improvement from last year to this year with the Sparks has been incredible. The numbers speak for themselves. I think she has found confidence in the way we play. She's been given the green light, and she knows it. A lot of times with players, if they're not afraid to miss, they shoot better. And every time she shoots it, I think it's going in, I really do. But also, beyond the shooting ... defensively, she's improved. You can look at those numbers, her rebounding has improved as well. She's just playing at a really high level and there's significant improvement, and it's a huge reason as to why we've won more games this year."

On playing Atlanta back-to-back:

"I thought we were a little soft on Wednesday against these guys. They're a very good team, they're physical, they're strong, they execute their stuff well. And I thought we didn't do those things. So I'm looking for us to just be tougher - mentally, physically, all the ways. They play similarly in the sense that they'll score in the paint and shoot threes. We rarely get beat, in the points in the paint, and they beat us in points in the paint. I think we're first in the league right now, and they edged us out. To me, that just shows they were being a little more determined and a little more physical to get to the bucket. [Brionna] Jones had a big game, she was tough for us. So I think we've got to do a good job of just being tougher, more physical. If we turn it over or we take a bad shot, it's just starting their fast break, and they made us pay in that first half. We were better in the second half, but we just had a horrible second quarter. So we need to put four quarters together. It's a unique thing to play these guys back-to-back. You have a chance to kind of nuance what you did, and how they played you, how you played them, some of the adjustments you can make - it's still fresh in your mind. But a ton of respect for them. They're really good, and we got our hands full tonight, but hopefully our crew is ready."

Postgame Quotes:

Assistant Coach Mike Neighbors

On their takeaways from playing the Dream back-to-back:

"[They] can win the game a lot of different ways. [They] can win it inside, [they] can win it in the arc, [they] can win in transition, there's a lot of different ways. It's a credit to them as a team that they're not just one-dimensional. You can't just take away one thing and expect to win. I think as they continue to move forward, they're an incredibly hard scout. They're an incredibly tough prep... we had to travel across the country, [so] you have no time to prep... that's gonna be the same in the playoffs. I think [they're] a really dangerous team when it comes to that, when you can win different ways on back-to-back nights, so I would look for them to do that throughout."

On moving on from the loss:

"[We have] a great locker room in there. They'll rally around each other, they've done it repeatedly throughout the year. We've battled a lot of adversity from day one with injuries, and we've stuck together. [There is] never a doubt that this group will find a way. We got plenty of time on that plane. I've witnessed it all year long. They come together. They battle through. No matter what it is on the court, we find a way off the court. So, we got three games left. We knew we had a tough stretch. We had more games than anybody to play, and we had very little rest to do it. You see how these guys do fight. It's not that we're trying to implore them to keep fighting, it's just to encourage and remember. We've had so many come-from-behind wins... it's never over till it's over with this group."

Dearica Hamby

On Rhyne Howard's 37-point effort:

"Rhyne [Howard]'s a rhythm player, a rhythm shooter. So, [if] she's seen the first two go in, she's gonna be pretty much lights out. The basket's big at that point. I think we did a good job [in] the second half of slowing [her] down a little bit, making her drive more than shoot threes, but she had a terrific game."

On Maya Moore getting inducted to the Hall of Fame:

"[Seeing] what she means to the state of Georgia for women's basketball and what she means to the WNBA and her legacy on and off the court, I'm grateful to have been able to witness."

What's Next?:

The Sparks play next at home Sunday, Sept. 7 (3 p.m. PT), against the Wings, followed by a quick trip to Phoenix to face the Mercury Tuesday, Sept. 9 (7 p.m. PT). The season finale comes Thursday, Sept.11 (7 p.m. PT), when the Sparks host the Aces.

Check out the Los Angeles Sparks Statistics

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