Dearica Hamby, Sparks eager to face back-to-back WNBA champion Aces

18.05.2024 00:26

DailyNews.com

TORRANCE — Sparks forward Dearica Hamby, who helped the Las Vegas Aces win the franchise’s first WNBA championship in 2022, wants to be an All-Star again, and equally important, she wants her team to win basketball games.

Hamby also wants to earn her first All-WNBA selection of her 10-year career this season, so she’s looking forward to playing against two-time MVP A’ja Wilson and several former teammates, in a nationally televised game on Saturday.

“I wanted the assignment,” said Hamby after Friday’s practice at the team’s training facility at El Camino College. “She’s the best player in the world. I was her teammate for a while. I was on that great team when I wasn’t a starter for Vegas so I’ve guarded her for a lot of time and throughout her career and I’m looking forward to it.”

Hamby, a two-time All-Star in 2021 and 2022, who played eight seasons for the Aces until she was traded to the Sparks while she was pregnant before the 2023 season, had a double-double with 20 points (2 of 4 from 3-point range) and 14 rebounds in the Sparks’ 92-81 season-opening loss to the Atlanta Dream at Long Beach State Wednesday.

The Sparks (0-1) did not practice Thursday, so the team will only have 24 hours of preparation before facing the Aces.

“It’s a short turnaround, limited prep with no shootaround, so anxiety that you don’t have the two or three days that we had to prepare for Atlanta but excited to go and see us continue to get better and scrap against the best,” Sparks coach Curt Miller said.

“It’s the mental thing, that’s what you have to reach the rookies about,” Hamby said. “You have to spend a lot of time in prep and film work and being mentally locked in.”

The Sparks went 1-2 against Las Vegas last season, highlighted by a 78-72 win on Aug. 19, in which Layshia Clarendon led the way and scored a team-high 22 points. Los Angeles was one of five teams that beat the Aces last season, who finished 34-6 in the regular season, before going 8-1 in the playoffs.

The Sparks were the only team to beat the Aces in Las Vegas during the regular season.

“I hope we can’t revert to the confidence that we had against them last year, Miller continued. “We played them well in many games.”

Clarendon, an 11-year WNBA veteran, is coming off their first career triple-double (11 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists) in Wednesday’s loss to Atlanta, in which the Sparks were outscored by a 20-point margin on points in the paint, and by a nine-point margin in the fast break points.

“Points in the paint was a big thing. … We want to knock down 3s, but it’s a battle of the paint in this league,” Clarendon said. “We’re about to go play A’ja Wilson, one of the best in the league so it’s another good test to look at it and say already we get another shot to say how are we going to attack the paint.”

Sparks guard Kia Nurse had a team-high 23 points, including five 3s against Atlanta. Sparks rookie forward Cameron Brink, the No. 2 overall selection, had 11 points, four assists, two rebounds, two blocks and five personal fouls over 20 minutes in her WNBA debut.

In the Aces’ opener Tuesday, Wilson had a double-double with a team-high 30 points, 13 rebounds, and five assists as the Aces pulled off an 89-80 victory against the Phoenix Mercury. Two-time All-Star guard Jackie Young had 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Two-time All-Star guard Kelsey Plum added 19 points and five assists.

Hamby said limiting Wilson, Young and Plum will be paramount if the Sparks want to pick up their first win of the season against the Aces.

“They’re going to hit tough shots but if they have to take 20 shots to score 20 points, I think we’re happy with that,” Hamby concluded.