Milton-Jones leads Sparks to 74-67 win over Sky
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DeLisha Milton-Jones scored 15 points to lead the short-handed Los Angeles Sparks to a 74-67 victory over the Chicago Sky on Saturday night.
Kristi Toliver had eight of her 11 points in the first half for the Sparks (15-19), who played without leading scorer and rebounder Candace Parker for the second straight night and closed the season with two straight wins.
"You want to leave the season with a good taste in your mouth," Sparks coach Joe Bryant said. "We played well the past two games. We played very good defense. I'm really happy about it."
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Los Angeles had 25 assists on 29 field goals.
Sylvia Fowles had 18 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Sky (14-19), Dominique Canty scored 16 and Erin Thorn had 12. Fowles, who shot 6 for 12 from the field did not score in the fourth quarter.
Chicago concludes its season on Sunday against Seattle, and Sky coach Pokey Chatman was blunt about her outlook.
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"After a loss, it's grim,"Chatman said. "I'm an honest coach. Seattle has a veteran team and they have playoff spot locked up. You play to maintain chemistry."
Natasha Lacy hit a free throw with 1:01 left in the third to give the Sparks a 52-51 lead, and they didn't trail again. Milton-Jones made a 3-pointer with 5:39 remaining to extend Los Angeles' lead to 65-55 and the Sparks finished 6 for 12 from beyond the arc.
Lacy, who finished with eight points, had seven in the fourth.
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Parker, who missed 15 games earlier this season, sat out again after aggravating a right knee injury earlier in the week.
"When you look back on it, we probably had moments where we should have seized a lot of golden opportunities in front of us to write our own destiny," Milton-Jones said. "The cards just weren't in our favor. I think next year, whether we're here with the Sparks, we all know you have to seize those opportunities when they come."
The Sparks took a 34-33 lead into halftime after a 10-2 run in the second quarter capped by Jenna O'Hea's open layup off a steal by Lacy.
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Chicago opened a 17-8 lead before the Sparks came back. Toliver scored eight of her team's 15 points in the first quarter, including a jumper during a 7-0 run that pulled the Sparks to 17-15.
Fowles passed Candice Dupree to become the Chicago's all-time leading rebounder. Rookie point guard Courtney Vandersloot set the Sky's single-season assists record with 124.