Rickea Jackson’s career night guides Sparks to win over Aces

A breakout performance from Rickea Jackson helped the Sparks pick up a road win over the flailing Aces.

After a slow start to her season, Rickea Jackson found her groove again on Wednesday. The second-year forward scored a career high 30 points to lead the Sparks to a win on the road against the Aces, 97-89.

The Sparks are now 2-2 in the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup.

Jackson was efficient on the night, shooting 11-17 shooting overall and 4-8 from range. Dearica Hamby had 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Azurâ Stevens pitched in with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Kelsey Plum had a rough night shooting, scoring just 13 points on 2-7 shooting, though she still dished out nine dimes.

Las Vegas took control early with an 8-0 scoring run. Almost every player in their starting lineup scored. Rickea stopped the bleeding by scoring six straight points off two 3-pointers. She then knocked down two more 3-pointers to give the Sparks a lead.

Emma Cannon joined in on the fun from behind the arc by draining one herself. LA was holding the Aces to 38% shooting from the field. Jewell Loyd entered the 3-pointer barrage by knocking one down for Las Vegas.

The Sparks, however, had taken all the momentum with their great offense and strong defense. Dearica scored seven points to help extend LA’s lead. At the end of the first, the purple and gold were up by 12.

Los Angeles continued to pour on the offense into the second quarter. Their extended run was up to 19-2. Sarah Ashlee Barker drained a 3-pointer, increasing LA’s percentage from behind the arc up to 87%.

Jackie Young ignited lots of offense for the Aces with her own 11-0 run, cutting the deficit to nine for Las Vegas and forcing the Sparks to call a timeout.

Out of the break, Dearica drained a 3-pointer. Both teams went through a brief stretch of messy basketball, turning the ball over and making sloppy passes.

Azurá converted on a much-needed layup for the Sparks. They had made only seven of their 16 shot attempts with the half winding down. Los Angeles did a great job using Azurá’s length to score in the paint. She was up to 11 points in the first half.

At halftime, the Sparks were up by nine.

Azurá scored on a layup to open the offense in the second half. The quarter started to drag, with neither team putting together any strong runs or consistent offense.

With 4:36 left in the quarter, free throws helped Las Vegas cut the deficit to four. Emma drained a huge 3-pointer to stop the surge from the Aces. Chelsea Gray answered with a 3-pointer of her own. After a rough first half of missing all her shots, A’ja Wilson finally scored for Vegas.

Rickea ended the quarter strong with five points, making her the scoring leader of the night for the Sparks. Young converted on an and-one, making it a six-point deficit for the Aces going into the fourth. LA only made five of their 13 shot attempts in the third.

The final frame began with a slew of layups from both teams. Dearica scored six points for the Sparks to put LA’s lead at double digits. Much of the rest of the quarter was a Rickea and Young battle. Both players were shouldering the offensive load for their respective teams.

Rickea scored another four points, while Young scored six points. The deficit was now at six with 1:38 left in the game after LA had built a lead of 10 in the period.

Las Vegas had the opportunity to cut the deficit in half two times, but missed both shots, putting their comeback hopes down the drain. A pair of free throws from Kelsey sealed the win for the Sparks.

Key Takeaways:

This was the Rickea Jackson game. She needed this strong offensive showing to get her going, especially the excellent shooting from behind the arc.

If LA wins the points in the paint battle every night, they’ll have more wins. They had 44 to Vegas’ 32.

The Sparks’ next game will be Saturday against the Minnesota Lynx at 10:00 AM PT.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.