Castro Marques leads Dream to fourth-quarter rally against Sparks

By Pierce W. Huff

For the AJC

The Los Angeles Sparks had plenty of obstacles when they faced the Atlanta Dream on Sunday.

Sparks forward Candace Parker didn’t make the trip, out for the season with a dislocated shoulder. With substitute guard Betty Lennox out with a knee injury, the team was down to nine players on its roster, two less than the required number. Los Angeles was tied for the fewest WNBA victories.

The Sparks still gave Atlanta all it could handle for three quarters and had a two-point lead before doing an expected fade.

Iziane Castro Marques scored 25 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, to prevent the upset and lead Atlanta to an 89-81 victory in Philips Arena.

The victory kept the Dream (11-4) in first place in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta entered the game with a half-game lead over Connecticut (9-5), which played New York on late Sunday.

The victory also gave Atlanta a regular-season series sweep of Los Angeles (3-10); the Dream defeated the Sparks 101-82 on May 30.

Atlanta wore down Los Angeles in the fourth quarter when it outscored the Sparks 26-16, said Marynell Meadors, Dream general manager and coach.

The Dream also received a solid outing from Angel McCoughtry, who scored 19 points and had eight rebounds and five assists.

“Our depth and our balance really hurts a lot of people,” Meadors said.

With the score tied at 69, the Dream took control of the game with a 13-0 run. Castro Marques started the run when she hit a 3-pointer to make the score 72-69 with 6:52 remaining in the game. She finished the run when she hit two free throws to push the score to 80-69 with 3:32 left.

“When we started running they couldn’t keep up,” Castro Marques said. “They have a very veteran team and they were trying to slow us down the whole game, but we definitely found our way to get going.”

The Dream also held the Sparks scoreless for four minutes and 31 seconds in the fourth quarter to help pull away.

“Our speed and quickness led us to the victory,” Castro Marques said.

Foul trouble and strong shooting by the Sparks got the best of the Dream in the first half. Los Angeles began the game with a 10-4 run, capped by a DeLisha Milton-Jones layup.

The Sparks increased their lead to 24-16 at the end of the quarter while the Dream shot 26.1 percent (six of 23) from the field and committed seven personal fouls.

“[The foul trouble] really hurts and takes away from what we’re trying to do,” Meadors said. “It takes away from the substitution pattern and all of those things, but I don’t think there is anybody that can run with us."