Sports

LIBERTY FACE SPARKS THIS AFTERNOON

The next stop for the Liberty on their five-game road trip is Los Angeles, where they’ll play the first-place Sparks (10-4) at 3:30 p.m. Eastern time today (no TV).

The Libs, 7-7 overall, are 1-5 on the road this season. The win came against the expansion Atlanta Dream, who are 0-15.

“We just have to take care of ourselves,” Liberty coach Pat Coyle said. “We have to make the free throws. We need to rebound and finish games.”

Saturday night, the Libs lost 82-78 at Sacramento. They had an eight-point lead heading into halftime, but the Monarchs opened the second half with a 10-1 run, and added a 10-0 run in the fourth quarter.

The Liberty missed 13 of 24 foul shots.

“I think the other night we shot ourselves in the foot because we didn’t make our free throws,” Coyle said. “We are a very good free-throw-shooting team (76.5 percent before Saturday). It was just one of those nights.”

The Sparks are No. 1 in the WNBA in assists, rebounds and shots blocked per game.

“The sign of a young team is being up and down, but we have to get out of that,” Coyle said.