Rickea Jackson’s mid-season resurgence hit a new high on Saturday night when she flipped in an absurd buzzer beater to ensure the Los Angeles Sparks stunned the reigning champion New York Liberty, 101-99. As a result, the Sparks extended their winning streak to five games and ended the Liberty’s five-game winning streak.
Thanks in large part to Jackson, who poured in 17 points in the first quarter, the Sparks got off to a terrific start and led by as many as 15 at multiple points in the game. The Liberty were able to cut the deficit to single digits heading into the fourth, however, and continued chipping away down the stretch. With 23 seconds to play, Sabrina Ionescu tied things up at 99-99.
With the shot clock shut off, the Sparks could hold for the final shot and make sure that the worst outcome was overtime. It seemed as though an extra frame was in store after the Sparks’ slow developing play ended with Jackson stumbling under the basket. Somehow, though, Jackson was able to flip the ball up to the rim and it spun in. She was mobbed by the Sparks’ bench.
“I feel like we just executed. We drew a play up and we just executed,” Jackson said. “Just to celebrate that moment, I feel like worked really hard for this win so I feel like we deserved it. I didn’t personally want to go to overtime. I was like, ‘we can get this out of the way, end this road trip right now, I’m willing to do whatever that takes.’ So that’s all I’m thinking about, just trying to win for my team.”
Jackson finished with 24 points on 9 of 15 from the field for her third 20-point game during this winning streak. In her 15 appearances prior to this turnaround, Jackson had reached 20 points just once. Over the last five games, she’s averaging 18.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists on 50% shooting.
“Going 3-0 on the road is big time. We’re peaking at the right time, we’re playing really well on both ends of the floor,” Jackson said.
As a team, the Sparks have scored 100-plus points in back-to-back games for the first time in franchise history and are enjoying their longest winning streak since 2023. After a 6-14 start under first-year coach Lynne Roberts, the Sparks are now 11-14, which has them back in the playoff picture.
Though the Sparks are in 10th place, they’re just one game behind the eighth-place Las Vegas Aces and two games back of the sixth-place Indiana Fever. With 19 games remaining, the Sparks have plenty of time to make up that sort of deficit.
“Part of learning to win is learning to just stay steady, and not get too high or too low or panic. And we didn’t,” Roberts said. “New York was coming at us… I’m just proud of these guys’ resilience. They’re buying in and they’re figuring it out and I have so much trust in them.”
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