LOS ANGELES -- The Sparks (5-15) finally snapped their nightmarish losing streak of eight games last Friday.
In one of the more surprising upsets in this WNBA season, the Sparks defeated the defending champion Aces, who were on a six-game winning streak going into Friday's contest. Los Angeles played a near-perfect game in terms of taking care of the ball as they only turned the rock over three times.
For a squad that has had trouble with turnovers this season, that's mighty impressive. They're going to have to do something close to that if they want to have a great chance defeating their next opponent, the Phoenix Mercury at 4 p.m. Sunday.
The Sparks haven't done the best against the Mercury (10-10) as both of their losses have been in double figures. Part of that was L.A. having trouble with holding on to the ball as they are averaging 16.5 turnovers against Phoenix.
Their match-up last week was close until the end of the third quarter when the Mercury ran away and grew their lead from four to 19.
Phoenix might have to look for their offense somewhere else for Sunday night. Kahleah Copper scored 24 points in their last game against the Sparks. Diana Taurasi had shot the lights out, going 12 for 17 (.706) from three in two games against the Sparks.
Taurasi will be out for Sunday's game with a lower leg injury. Brittney Griner, who had a double-double against the Sparks last week, is questionable due to personal reasons and Rebecca Allen has the same status due to back problems.
Dearica Hamby, as she has all season, has led the charge against the Mercury. She tied a career-best 29 points last week against Phoenix.
Aari McDonald had her first career double-double with 12 points and 10 assists in that game. She has found a groove with the Sparks, especially in the last 10 games.
As of note, Stephanie Talbot, who was just named to the Australian national team for the upcoming Paris Olympics, has played well as of late. She's averaging 10.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.8 assists in her last six games while shooting .579 from the field.
She was huge in that game against Vegas, notably making the basket to send the game to overtime on Friday.
While Taurasi is out, the Mercury will still shoot from afar as Coach Nate Tibbetts wants his squad to shoot a lot of those. They still have Sophie Cunningham to snipe from the arc.
Copper shoots a lot of threes as well. While Natasha Cloud hasn't shot a great percentage, she won't hesitate to put up a three. Allen is the best of the bunch, percentage-wise, and she'll shoot those threes if she's on the court for Sunday.
Help is on the way for the Sparks. Azura Stevens, who has not played all year, is set to make her return on Sunday. Stevens will provide much-needed size in the frontcourt and help clog the inside. She can also shoot the three so she can also mix up her offense when needed.
It's about putting together a 40-minute game (in Friday's case, it was 45 minutes) for the Sparks. Composure has been talked about a lot recently and they need to keep it together when a team makes a run against them, especially in the second half.
They couldn't do it against the Mystics (and in a lot of games before that) but they did it against the Aces. Coach Curt Miller hopes to see more growth in that department.
And if they keep it composed and execute well, the Sparks might see a winning streak after Sunday.