Aces falter late in road loss to Los Angeles Sparks

Aces coach Bill Laimbeer reminded his players after a practice this week that they wouldn’t win every game during the second half of the season. That in spite of their recent excellence, they’d occasionally falter as they seek their first playoff berth since 2014.

He was right.

The Aces overcame an 11-point deficit Thursday night but missed 15 of 19 shots in the fourth quarter in a 76-68 road loss to the Los Angeles Sparks at Staples Center.

At 14-7 they trail the Connecticut Sun (15-6) by a game in the WNBA standings and will conclude a two-game road trip Saturday against the Dallas Wings. They’ll be back at home Monday to complete a suspended game against the Washington Mystics.

“We just missed shots we would normally make,” Aces forward Dearica Hamby said.

The Aces had won 12 of their previous 15 to claim the best record in the league. But one of those three losses was to the Sparks (12-8), who welcomed back superstar forward Candace Parker after nearly a month of inactivity.

Parker was plenty active in the first quarter Thursday and also connected on two 3-pointers to propel the Sparks to a 26-15 advantage early in the second quarter.

The Aces rallied, though, behind 14 first-half points from Kayla McBride, who tied the game at 40 by beating the halftime buzzer.

Laimbeer said his bench did a good job getting the team back into the game. “Second half, we just turned the ball over again, didn’t take care of the basketball and missed easy shots,” he said.

The Aces opened the third quarter with a 10-3 run, too, but promptly surrendered a 20-8 run to set the table for its woeful fourth.

The Sparks, too, struggled until Parker buried a crucial 3-pointer from the left wing with 2:40 to play. Chelsea Gray followed with a key 17-footer, and the Aces missed shot after shot.

“At that point, when you’re not making shots, you’ve got to get stops,” Aces forward Tamera Young said. “We didn’t do that either.”

Nneka Ogwumike led the Sparks with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Parker scored 16 and Chelsea Gray had 16 points and 10 assists.

McBride scored 19 and Dearica Hamby had 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Aces, who had 14 turnovers — including four costly ones in the fourth quarter.

“I wanted to see less turnovers. I wanted to see shots going in,” Laimbeer said. “We got good looks. We didn’t make them. We need to be more concentrated, and we need to make big shots in big games. We didn’t get that done today.”

Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.