LOS ANGELES – Candace Parker scored 21 points, Kristi Toliver added 18, and the Los Angeles Sparks defeated the Seattle Storm for the second time in five days, 74-61, on Tuesday night.
Alana Beard scored 15 points for the Sparks (2-0), who led most of the game after their big comeback victory over the Storm in the WNBA season opener Friday, when the Sparks erased a 21-point second-half deficit.
Ann Wauters led Seattle (0-2) with 15 points. Tina Thompson added 13.
“Of course it’s not a nice pleasant feeling, how we feel right now,” Seattle guard Sue Bird said. “But it is only the second game of the season, and we know that even though it’s a short season, you can’t let two games dictate who we’re going to be.”
Seattle is playing without three-time league MVP Lauren Jackson, who is in her native Australia preparing for the London Olympics.
The Storm has committed 41 turnovers in two games.
“I think it’s maybe us continuing to try to get more familiar with each other,” Bird said. “There’s a little uncertainty at times.”
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