When Julie Vanloo drew her second traveling violation before halftime, the crowd’s disapproval rose in unison.
On the floor, with tempers simmering on the Sparks’ bench, a delay-of-game whistle drew another round of jeers from the Crypto.com Arena crowd.
The calls weren’t the only sources of frustration for the Sparks — the team also was trailing the last-place Connecticut Sun by 10 points.
Still, the flare-up might have been what the Sparks needed to rally to a 102-91 victory over the Sun to earn their eighth win in nine games.
After the Sparks’ deficit swelled to 13 points late in the second quarter, the Sparks (14-15) went on a 14-0 run, trimming their deficit to 51-49 by halftime.
In the third quarter, Dearica Hamby helped keep the Sparks right behind the Sun (5-24) on the scoreboard. Hamby made the Sun look just as undersized, racking up six points, an assist and a defensive rebound over four minutes. A three-pointer by Rae Burrell late in third quarter gave the Sparks a 66-64 lead. The Sun managed to tie it in the fourth quarter before a Cameron Brink three with 8:06 left gave the Sparks the lead for good.
Julie Allemand was a consistent force throughout the game, finishing with 10 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds for her first career triple-double.
From the opening quarter — when Allemand flashed her handle with a flurry of steps, an in-and-out dribble and a hard drive before dishing to Rickea Jackson for a three-pointer at the extended elbow — the Allemand Act didn’t let up. She also proved to be a near-perfect scout for Kelsey Plum, the Sparks’ leading scorer, who finished with 18 points after being held to just one point in the first half.
Hamby finished with 21 points, five rebounds and four assists and Jackson scored 20 points. Burrell had nine points off the bench.
With Brink back proving to be strong on both ends — she finished with 11 points, five blocks and two rebounds — the Sparks turned Crypto.com Arena’s boos into all cheers by the end of the game.