Photo Credit: Vicente Cardenas/The Paisano

On Aug. 31, the Los Angeles Sparks showed no mercy as they beat the San Antonio Silver Stars 80-67 at the AT&T center on Saturday night.

Sparks forward Candace Parker had 12 points and 11 rebounds and teammate Nneka Ogwumike added 19 points as the two of them led the sparks to their 21st win of the season.

Playing on the second night of a back-to-back, the odds of a win for the Stars were low. The Stars only played nine players as guard Danielle Robinson is still nursing a strained right knee and Davellyn Whyte was a DNP-Coach’s decision. This season has been a struggle already for the Stars without guards Becky Hammon and Sophia Young who are both out for the year.

“The back to back was not the issue, it was the small numbers. If we just had one more player and Davellyn was able to play yesterday, but was not able to play today so we’re down one player,” Silver Stars Coach Dan Hughes said.

The Stars held off at 13-4 Sparks lead early in the first quarter, but Parker’s layup with 1:27 left in the first put the Sparks back up 19-8.

By the beginning of the second quarter, the Stars and Sparks were neck and neck. Stars forward Cathrine Kraayeveld hit a 3-pointer leaving the Stars trailing 20-19. But that would be the closest the Stars would get all night to the Sparks in the 13-point loss.

The Stars have been eliminated from the playoff scenario with only four games left and while currently standing 4.5 games out.

“L.A. is a good basketball team, give them a lot of credit from the standpoint of their ability to attack you in the full court and half court.” Hughes said.

The Stars head to Phoenix on Friday night to face the Mercury, and then return home for a meeting with the Tulsa Shock on Sunday afternoon.