Plum, Sparks get back to winning ways with third-quarter explosion

The guard scored 17 of her game-high 28 in the third.

(Photo credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images)

LOS ANGELES -- Kelsey Plum is no stranger to tough times.

“Maybe being bullied as a kid just kind of gives you that resilience,” Plum told gathered media inside Crypto.com Arena on Sunday night.

The bullying recently had come courtesy of her opponents, who, coming into Sunday’s game, had handed the Los Angeles Sparks three straight defeats.

“I love to compete, I wanna play, I wanna win so bad,” Plum added. “I hate losing. It makes me sick.”

Plum dropped in 17 of her game-high 28 points in the third quarter to pace the Sparks to their first home win of the season and their second overall, a 91-78 victory over the Chicago Sky, moving the Sparks to 2-3 on the young season and avoiding the very sickness Plum alluded to.

“I really wanna win, and so I know this system asks a lot from me in terms of creating, but then also trying to score and finding that balance, and it’s not easy, right?” Plum said postgame. “I’m not gonna get it right all the time, but I don’t give a damn about the points. I’m here to win. I was trying to be patient in the first half, and then I knew in the third quarter I had to be a little bit more aggressive.”

Plum’s third quarter was one of precision and technical prowess as she knocked down five 3s in the frame and assisted on another two, having a hand in seven of the Sparks’ eight made 3s during the third. In total, Plum scored or assisted on 25 of the 33 points for Los Angeles in that time.