Sparks vs. Mercury: Dearica Hamby Has 27 and 15 as LA Sets a Franchise Record for Points at Halftime

The Phoenix Mercury threw a party on Thursday night. They honored the WNBA's 30th year by dressing in uniforms that matched their originals and putting the old logo back at midcourt, a lovely bit of nostalgia for one of the league's founding teams. The trouble was the guest list. The Los Angeles Sparks, the other original in the building, showed up and scored 60 points in the first two quarters, a franchise record for points at halftime.

Dearica Hamby did the heavy lifting with 27 points and 15 rebounds, and the Sparks cruised home with a 97-88 win that was effectively settled before anybody got back from the concession stand at intermission. For a team that came in with one win in four tries, it was a very loud way to introduce itself to the road.

Thirty-Five Points in Ten Minutes

For one quarter, this was a normal basketball game. Los Angeles used an 8-0 run to turn a 10-8 deficit into a 16-10 lead, Phoenix hung around, and it was 25-24 Sparks after one.

Then the second quarter happened. The Sparks shot 11 of 16 in the period, made 5 of 7 from 3 and never missed at the foul line. They won the frame 35-19, and at 60-43 the Mercury looked like a team that had stepped out of a time machine and straight into a problem it could not solve.

Phoenix did get off the mat. Down 69-50 in the third, the Mercury ripped off nine straight between the 7:11 and 4:42 marks to make it a 10-point game and give the 10,953 in the building a reason to stay. Alyssa Thomas and company won the third quarter 27-22. But it was still 82-70 going to the fourth, and for all the pushing, Phoenix never got closer than nine after halftime. The final margin was as close as the second half ever got.

Hamby Was the Engine

Look at how clean this line is: 27 points on 7-of-11 shooting, 2 of 3 from deep, 11 of 11 at the foul line, 15 rebounds with five on the offensive end, three assists and zero turnovers in 30 minutes. On a night when Los Angeles coughed it up 17 times, Hamby did not give it away once. She was plus-13 and she got whatever she wanted whenever the Sparks needed a possession to end well.

Kelsey Plum supplied the spark in the first half, scoring 14 of her 16 before the break, and she finished with seven assists and 4 of 10 from 3. Ariel Atkins added 11 points and three steals. Off the bench, Cameron Brink had 12 points and three blocks despite six turnovers, and Rae Burrell also had 12.

Then there is the quiet bit of history buried in the box score. Nneka Ogwumike scored 10 of her 12 points in the first half, and those points took her past Tamika Catchings and up to fifth on the league's career scoring list. Most players never get within shouting distance of that list. Ogwumike climbed it on a random Thursday in May while going 2 of 2 from deep.

Phoenix's stars were not the issue. Thomas posted 23 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, making 9 of 11 at the line. Kahleah Copper added 22, though she needed 20 shots and went 1 of 7 from 3. Jovana Nogic had 15 and Natasha Mack gave them 10 points and nine rebounds, six of those on the offensive glass. Marta Suarez, meanwhile, picked up six fouls in nine minutes, which takes real commitment.

Take Away One Quarter

Here is the wild part. Remove the second quarter and Phoenix wins this game 69-62. The Mercury won the third, won the fourth and lost the first by a single point. Nobody gets to remove the second quarter, of course, and 10 minutes of bad defense turned the other 30 into an extended chase scene.

The closest thing to a real scare came midway through the fourth. Burrell's driving layup at 4:39 made it 92-78, but Copper hit from 26 feet and DeWanna Bonner got a running layup to cut it to 92-83 with 3:50 left. Los Angeles needed one calm answer, and Erica Wheeler provided it, burying a 24-footer off a Plum pass at 3:12. Hamby's two free throws at 1:24 were the last points the Sparks scored, and the last ones they needed.

Stats That Matter

• 60: Sparks points by the break, a franchise record for points at halftime.
• 35-19: The second quarter, the only stretch that really mattered.
• 15 of 32 vs. 8 of 25: Threes. Seven extra makes equals 21 points in a nine-point game.
• 20 of 22: Los Angeles at the foul line, with Hamby accounting for 11 of them without a miss.
• 40-26: Phoenix's edge in the paint. The Mercury also won the offensive glass 11-7 and it barely registered.

Where Everybody Stands

The Sparks are now 2-3 and 1-0 on the road after opening the season with four straight at home. Both teams came in nursing a home loss to expansion Toronto, and only one of them responded. Los Angeles stays out on the road and goes to Las Vegas on Saturday, with a chance to answer for a 105-78 beating on May 10.

Phoenix falls to 2-4, with two straight losses, and it finishes its four-game home stretch at 1-3. The Mercury head to Atlanta on Sunday.

The Good Old Days Showed Up in Gold

Throwback nights are a bet on nostalgia. You dress up like the old days and hope some of that old magic drifts down from the rafters. Phoenix got the uniforms right and the logo right and the sentiment right. It just forgot that the Sparks have been around exactly as long, and that they could turn up to the same anniversary party and set a franchise record on the host's own floor. Thirty years in, some rivalries still know how to ruin a good theme night.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press.