Jackson drops career-high, leads Sparks to bust Aces in Sin City

The second-year forward scored 14 of her 30 in the first quarter.

(Photo credit: Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images)

It hasn’t been the smoothest of times for second-year forward Rickea Jackson, the team’s No. 4 overall pick in last year’s WNBA Draft.

After a solid outing in the season opener nearly four weeks ago, Jackson dealt with a concussion and then suffered through residual effects that limited her availability. The 24-year-old hadn’t looked quite right, shooting just 36% and averaging 7.8 points through five games.

But Wednesday night could be the first step on the road back to normalcy, as Jackson dropped in a career-high 30 points to lead the LA Sparks to a much-needed 97-89 road win over the Las Vegas Aces.

“I feel like I just come in, do my job, and I feel like my teammates were just finding me,” Jackson told reporters after her highest-scoring game of any kind since scoring 33 in a collegiate finale with Tennessee.

“We were making the right play. I feel like we were moving the ball really well, tied our career-high in assists. That just goes to show that when we’re moving the ball, great things like this happen,” Jackson added. “All my teammates had confidence in knocking it down themselves. We were just finding each other. It’s just fun to play like that, and I feel like if we play like that, we are going to make a statement. It’s not just one person.”