LOS ANGELES — Amanda Zahui B. couldn’t miss from just about anywhere and Kia Nurse camped out at the free-throw line, missing only once in 14 tries as their Liberty squared the three-game season series with the Sparks, repaying them for a loss the previous week in New York.
Behind Zahui B.’s big night and, the frustrated Sparks stressed, a significant discrepancy in free-throw attempts (23 of 26 for New York vs. 6 for 7 Los Angeles), the Liberty rallied to win 98-92 in a see-saw slugfest that served as a rematch of a meeting on June 4.
In that first meeting, the visiting Sparks overcame what was, on the West Coast, an 8 a.m. start to finish ahead, 78-73, in a game that had 12 lead changes.
On Saturday before 11,388 fans at Staples Center, less than eight hours after deplaning their return flight after their win Friday in Phoenix, the Sparks (4-3) couldn’t escape with another win after the teams traded the advantage 11 times.
“Every game is different and the mental and physical space and energy and capacity you have to generate on a nightly basis varies,” Sparks Coach Derek Fisher said. “You can’t come into a game assuming anything.”
After scoring just six points Friday in the Liberty’s 100-65 loss in Las Vegas — from which the Liberty took a bus to L.A. — the 6-foot-5 Zahui B. came out firing furiously and with flourish Saturday.
She finished with a career-highs galore, scoring 37 points on 13-of-16 shooting, including going 7 for 8 from 3-point range.
The 25-year-old Swedish center had 24 points in the first half, when she eclipsed her previous single-game scoring high of 21 in just her first 18 minutes of action.
“Amanda shot the ball well tonight; that’s not something that normally happens,” said Fisher, noting that Zahui B. entered the game 5 for 23 from behind the arc this year. “So if you play the percentages and it goes that well for her, we shouldn’t throw out our entire defensive philosophy (for) somebody that doesn’t normally shoot 7 for 8.”
“My coach Tara VanDerveer at (Stanford) used to say, ‘Some days you’re the dog, and some days you’re the hydrant,’” said Chiney Ogwumike, who led the Sparks with 26 points and 14 rebounds. “Well, she was the dog from the perimeter today.”
Zahui B. drained her fifth 3-pointer to start the second half and converted a layup and free throws to help the Liberty (3-5) again erase a Sparks lead (this one a seven-point gap) with 1:34 left in the third quarter.
Her seventh 3-pointer with 1:11 left in the game gave the Liberty their final lead, 90-88, after which Nurse made her final eight free-throw attempts to fend off the Sparks, who’d stayed close thanks to three clutch 3s from Alexis Jones and an all-around effort from Chiney Ogwumike.
The Sparks’ younger Ogwumike sister shot 12 for 20 and grabbed seven offensive rebounds — and was whistled for four of the Sparks’ 22 fouls (10 more than New York).
“Let’s just say, in that department, the ball hasn’t bounce our way,” she said. “And I don’t want that to be the standard by which the season’s gonna go, because if it is, people need to go back to the drawing board and do tutorials.
“I’m not happy with how it’s been the past few games, but we can’t use it as an excuse. Let’s hope that clips are being sent in and adjustments are being made because there are times when we have moment and it’s stolen… We’re trying to do our best, we want that same standard, we want them to keep that same energy.”
Said Fisher: “I’m still a little confused at getting 14 more shots attempts than them and they still shot almost 20 more free throws than us. But that’s how it goes sometimes when the other team looks like they’re moving faster and playing quicker, the whistles tend to go their way.”
Nneka Ogwumike added 20 points and Chelsea Gray had 18, though she missed a few late looks that she’s been known to knock down.
Fisher said he thought fatigue might have had something to do with that, as the Sparks sought to avoid using travel fatigue as an excuse, even if they did offer it as explanation.
“We got back to LAX at 11:37 this morning,” Sparks Coach Derek Fisher said. “When we’re mad that our players didn’t have a lot of energy tonight, it’s kind of tough to expect them to get off an airplane eight hours ago after playing last night and look like they have a lot of energy.
“Those are not excuses,” he added. “They played last night, they got on the bus and go here. Maybe that’s something we could’ve considered, Phoenix is a longer bus ride than Vegas, but I don’t know. Had we left Phoenix last night at 10 p.m., we would’ve gotten back to L.A. at 3 a.m., 3:30? I don’t know if it would’ve made much difference.
“But both teams were facing that coming in and they did a better job figuring it out.”
