LOS ANGELES — In a WNBA season opener with Vice President Kamala Harris, Sparks owner Magic Johnson and Lakers head coach Darvin Ham in attendance, five Sparks scored in double figures, including rookie guard Zia Cooke with 14, in a 94-71 blowout win against Brittney Griner and the Phoenix Mercury on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena.
It was Griner’s first WNBA game since being jailed for nearly 10 months in Russia. Griner, who has been free since December when she was part of a high-profile prisoner swap, had 18 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots in 25 minutes.
All-Star forward Nneka Ogwumike had 17 points, four rebounds and three assists in 27 minutes to pace the Sparks. Sparks center Chiney Ogwumike, who was tasked with guarding Griner, finished with 15 points and a team-high seven rebounds in 25 minutes.
“September basketball in this league is so pretty and such an amazing product,” Sparks head coach Curt Miller said before the game. “In May, we’re all trying to find ourselves coming out of training camp.”
After trailing by 11 points early in the first quarter, the Sparks began to find themselves with back-to-back 3-pointers from guard Lexie Brown, who finished with 14 points (three 3-pointers) in 23 minutes and reserve forward Karlie Samuelson (13 points in 26 minutes off the bench). Samuelson was signed to a hardship contract Thursday, to fill the roster spot that would have been occupied by her sister Katie Lou, who is pregnant and expected to miss the season.
The Sparks trailed 22-19 at the end of the first quarter before Cooke helped turn things around.
Making her league debut in front of Dawn Staley, her former college coach at South Carolina, Cooke tied the score at 22 with the first points of her career on a three-point play. The 10th pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft then drilled a corner 3-pointer to tie the score again at 25. The 5-foot-9 guard scored all 14 of her points in the second quarter and finished 5 for 6 from the…
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