Sparks news: Rae Burrell drops honest assessment on big game vs. Aces

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Sparks were on a five-game win streak and had won six of their last seven games coming into Tuesday’s home game against the Las Vegas Aces. A big reason for the Sparks’ improved play has been finally being healthy and having a consistent rotation. Fourth-year guard Rae Burrell is one of the Sparks’ players who has returned from injury recently, and she poured in a season-high in points on Tuesday.

Although the Sparks had their win streak snapped following their 89-74 loss to the Aces, Rae Burrell dropping a season-high in scoring showed why she’s become such a valuable part of this Sparks team. Following their game, Burrell spoke about how she’s been feeling since returning to the lineup and how the coaching staff has gotten her up to speed.

“I feel like the team did a good job of just preparing me for coming back. And I feel like I didn’t really have much of a time where I felt like I’m out of breath. I feel like I kind of was just out there and I was just going, but I just try to bring the same thing every night,” Burrell said.

“I try to bring in some energy, whatever the team needs me to bring whether that’s getting offensive rebounds, being aggressive on offense, defense, just whatever the team needs me to do,” Burrell continued. “I’m just going to play hard regardless, so I just felt like I was just being me.”

Burrell finished with 17 points in the loss to the Aces, one point shy of tying her career-high of 18. In a game where nobody on the team really shot well offensively, Burrell went 6-of-11 (54.5 percent) from the field including 2-of-3 from the three-point line. She was also tied with Dearica Hamby as the team’s second-leading rebounder with six.

Prior to the Aces game, the Sparks had gone 7-3 since Burrell’s returned to the lineup, a fact that Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts brought up before the game as not being a coincidence. Burrell suffered a leg injury in the first game of the season and had missed 16 games before returning against the New York Liberty on July 2.

In total, she’s appeared in ten games and has been averaging a career-high 6.3 points and 2.0 rebounds while shooting 46.9 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from the three-point line. Her field goal percentage is a career-high, as is her nearly five shot attempts per game.

As the Sparks continue to make a push for a playoff spot, Burrell certainly appears primed to play a big role towards that goal.

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