Sparks bewitch Mystics in rout, produce first two-game winning streak of season

It might have been their best performance of the year.

Dearica Hamby reacts after a basket during Tuesday’s win over the Washington Mystics. (Photo credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images)

LOS ANGELES — Dearica Hamby crouched down on the Crypto.com Arena floor on Tuesday night, hoping that her last-second 3-pointer would find its way through the bottom of the net.

Four subtle kisses of the rim later, the ball snuck through, and Hamby, sprawled out flat on her back, was mobbed by a quartet of teammates to celebrate the made basket which gave the LA Sparks their largest lead of the season, a 25-point cushion as they headed into halftime of their eventual 99-80 triumph over the Washington Mystics.

The win pushed the Sparks to 8-14 and gave them their first two-game winning streak of the season as they now reach the All-Star break.

“We’re starting to figure it out, and also getting players healthy helps, getting who we designed everything for,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts relayed after the team’s third win in their last four games. “I’m proud of us. I’m proud of these guys for sticking with the process because it’s hard. Adversity’s hard and it challenges you and it shows you what you’re really made of, and we’re not done. But I do feel like things are starting to click.”

The Sparks used a 17-2 second-quarter run to pull away from a Mystics team that came into Tuesday’s affair having won three in a row and six of their last eight.