Red-hot Sparks take on winless Stars

The surging Los Angeles Sparks will try to stay hot when they play host to the winless San Antonio Stars on Thursday night at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles (6-3) has won four of its last five games. The Sparks are second in the WNBA's Western Conference, three games behind the undefeated Minnesota Lynx.

San Antonio (0-9) is the only team in the league that has yet to win a game.

The Sparks opened a three-game homestand with a 97-87 victory over the Dallas Wings on Tuesday. Chelsea Gray scored a team-high 24 points for Los Angeles, which shot 57.4 percent from the field.

Reigning WNBA MVP Nneka Ogwumike scored 21 points in the win over Dallas. Candace Parker posted 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Los Angeles led by 17 points in the first quarter and went up by 18 in the second. The Wings stormed back to get within five later in the opening half, but the Sparks regained control and led by 20 going into the fourth quarter.

"The first quarter was a nice insurance policy, but they still came back," Ogwumike told the Long Beach Press-Telegram. "No matter what your lead is, you can't let your guard down like that."

Los Angeles coach Brian Agler was pleased with his team's performance against the Wings, who defeated the Sparks last week in Dallas.

"I thought we played really good defense in the first quarter," Agler said. "They're a hard team to defend."

The Stars are coming off an 85-81 overtime loss to the Chicago Sky, their narrowest defeat of the season. They lost their first eight games by an average of 10 points per game.

"The most important thing for us is trying to close," Stars coach Vickie Johnson told the San Antonio Express-News. "When the game is tied, that's when your mental focus has to go to another level."

Moriah Jefferson and Dearica Hamby combined for 35 points off the bench for San Antonio. Jefferson had 18 points, five steals and four assists. Hamby had 17 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Kayla McBride had 15 points and six rebounds for the Stars. San Antonio's other four starters combined for just 12 points on 5-of-26 shooting.

"I think we fought a lot harder than what we've done in the past, but then we got into overtime and we slipped up," Jefferson told the Express-News. "We had too many turnovers, and when you have that many turnovers in the second half you cannot win."