Nneka Ogwumike drops truth bomb on sluggish 1st quarter vs. Valkyries

LOS ANGELES – After falling behind by 19 points in the fourth quarter to the visiting Golden State Valkyries, the Los Angeles Sparks embarked on a furious rally to get pull within a single point. They even had the opportunity to potentially surge ahead, but an ill-advised outlet pass was picked off by Valkyries star Gabby Williams, and essentially set the tone for how the game ended. The first home game back from a long trip can often be a trap game, but Sparks star Nneka Ogwumike wouldn’t have it.

“I think today was kind of more of a mind over matter type of day. I don’t want to use the schedule as an excuse as pros. I’ve been doing this a long time. There’s always a point in the season when the schedule gets like this,” Ogwumike said during her postgame press conference. “And so I think today was a bit more mind over matter and it took us a little bit of time to kind of get into the game.

“But I’m happy that we didn’t just acquiesce to the results of the first quarter. You really just kind of have to get that focus and lock in.”

Nneka Ogwumike individually rallied from a slow start as well, and played a pivotal role in getting the Sparks back into the game. She started off missing her first six shots, and didn’t get her first one to drop until a little under four minutes to go in the first half.

But after that first one went through the net, there was no looking back. From that point onward, she shot 6-of-11 (54.5 percent) from the field including a couple of big shots down the stretch as the Sparks cut the Valkyries’ lead all the way down to a single point.

The Sparks actually outscored the Valkyries by 11 points, 31-20 in the fourth quarter, and 63-55 overall after the first period. But ultimately that first quarter came back to bite them. They fell behind by 14 points, 29-15, and Ogwumike lamented the fact that it took the team that long to wake up.

“I think E [Erica Wheeler] said it best when we finished the game. She was saying it’s the small things … everybody right now is in the thumbs of it in the season. So when you’re trying to put these games together, you really have to pay attention to those details,” Ogwumike said. “I think a lot of those details showed up in that first quarter. I think we probably can all say that we would do that first quarter over, but with a team like that, you absolutely can’t have multiple quarters, even one quarter, playing that way.”

The Sparks were short-handed coming into the game with new trade acquisition Monique Akoa Makani ruled out just before tip-off due to ankle injury. They have one more game on this current homestand against the Phoenix Mercury, before heading back out on the road for a three-game trip.

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