The Sparks' road woes continue.
Sabrina Ionescu scored 31 points and New York held off a fourth-quarter rally by the Sparks, powering the Liberty to a 93-80 victory on Thursday night at Barclays Center.
The Sparks were keeping up until the third quarter when the Liberty scored 13 unanswered points. Los Angeles came back with a 15-4 spurt to make it a game. The Sparks had cut it to 78-73 but Leonie Fiebich and Sabrina Ionescu made consecutive 3-pointers to put an end to that comeback.
The Liberty, who lead in 3-point shots attempted, made 13 compared to the Sparks' seven.
L.A. did shoot .500 from the field while New York also shot well at .493. The free throw shooting stood out as Los Angeles missed five of them in the fourth quarter. The Sparks went 11 for 19 (.579) from the line overall while the Libs went for a tidy 12 for 15 (.800).
The Sparks have now gone 0-5 in this road trip.
"As we've talked about often, we're proud of this group," Sparks coach Curt Miller said. "They scrapped and really fought but obviously, no moral victories and you want to turn some of these opportunities being in games and putting ourselves in position down the stretch into wins. Ultimately, that's our goal."
Ionescu was tough to stop, making 6-of-11 3-pointers and dishing out six assists.
"We knew it was going to be an uptempo game," guard Aari McDonald said, who led the Sparks with 15 points. "They're a really good team. This next game, just gotta make it harder for them, especially Sabrina. She had 31. I'm not happy about that. That was my assignment and I just gotta be better."
Second-year pro Zia Cooke got an opportunity to play and was a huge part of that rally. She scored a season-best 13 points.
"Being ready to step it up when the opportunity presents itself," Cooke said. "Making sure I get my shots up in the gym and doing what I need to do.
"It definitely felt good to be out there; it felt great! To see the ball go in felt even better but the ultimate goal is to win games."
Rae Burrell was the only other Sparks player to score in double digits with 11. On the Liberty's side, Ionescu got huge help from Jonquel Jones, who had an impressive 22-7-8 line. Last season's MVP Breanna Stewart put in 17.
The two teams will duke it out again on Saturday afternoon at Barclays Center.