did Motley rest on her glory. Army vanquished, Navy still had to play a road game at Mount St. Marys two days later. While not a conference game, a loss on the road would have left Navy four gam

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Two MVPs were too much for the Chicago Sky.Candace Parker scored 19 of her 30 points in the first half, Nneka Ogwumike added 27, and the Los Angeles Sparks won 95-75 in the teams semifinal playoff opener Wednesday night.Two-time WNBA MVP Parker had nine rebounds and newly crowned MVP Ogwumike had 10 rebounds and six assists for the Sparks, who were playing their first game in 12 days after early-round byes in the revamped playoffs. The game was at the Pyramid on the Long Beach State campus, 24 miles from downtown Los Angeles.Nneka and I have a really good chemistry in the high-low and we were able to capitalize on that, Parker said. Its been an amazing journey for me to sit back and watch Nneka develop as she has. You rarely see an MVP dive on the floor and get an extra possession for your team. Im learning just as much from her.Ogwumike has been teammates with Parker since 2012.With Candace theres so much to learn from her. She sees the game, Ogwumike said. We understand each others game.The Sky was missing injured Elena Delle Donne and her team-leading averages of 21.5 points and 7.0 rebounds. In her absence, the offensive load was spread among four players. Jamierra Faulkner scored a leading 13 points off the bench. Cappie Pondexter added 12, Tamera Young had 11 and Courtney Vandersloot 10.One thing I can guarantee is missed shots or turnovers, were going to come back an even stronger team in this second game, Pondexter said.The Sky forced seven turnovers in the opening quarter when they trailed by two. But they couldnt keep up the pressure and Los Angeles outscored Chicago 30-15 in the second, the Sparks highest-scoring period of the game.If you give up a 30-point quarter to that team, its tough to beat, Vandersloot said. After that it seemed like we were just trading baskets and not doing enough to win.The Sparks ran off nine straight points for an 86-65 lead in the fourth.The Sky never got closer than 12 points in the third, with Parker scoring the Sparks final six points on a three-point play and a 3-pointer. Ogwumike had 12 in the quarter, including eight in a row, stealing the ball and converting at the other end in one possession.I dont like her going right all the time. I want to see her go left and score, Sky coach Pokey Chatman said of Ogwumike. You have to make people go to their countermove and make them uncomfortable, and we didnt do that enough.The Sparks led 52-35 at halftime, pulling away with a 23-8 run to end the second quarter. Parker had nine points, Ogwumike seven and Kristi Toliver hit a 3-pointer to cap their scoring. They shot 62 percent in the half.TIP-INSThree-time NBA MVP Magic Johnson hugged Ogwumike before she received her WNBA MVP trophy from league president Lisa Borders before the game. On hand to support Ogwumike was her sister Chiney, who plays for the Connecticut Sun, their mother and an uncle. Its great to see big boss at our games, Parker said of Johnson, who co-owns the team. We were fortunate to talk to him before the playoffs began and to pick his brain about what it takes to win a championship. ... Sparks C Jantel Lavender won the leagues sixth woman award on Wednesday, receiving 26 of the 39 votes from a national media panel. Lavender came off the bench in all 34 regular-season games after being a starter the previous two seasons. She averaged 9.6 points and shot a career-high 53.8 percent from the field.DELLE DONNES THUMBDelle Donne sat on the Sky bench in street clothes with a wrap on her right thumb after recent surgery. She joined Betnijah Laney, who is out with an ACL tear, under the basket while the team warmed up for the second half.STREAKINToliver was 3 of 7 from 3-point range, extending her streak as the only player in the league to make at least one 3 in every game played. She hit 81 from long-range in 33 regular-season games.DRAFT PICKThe Sparks will select fourth in the 2017 draft as a result of the lottery held earlier Wednesday. They had 227 chances out of 1,000 to land the top pick, which went to San Antonio. The Sparks acquired Connecticuts lottery pick through a draft-day trade in April.WHATS NEXTGame 2 is Friday at Staples Center, the Sparks home court that was unavailable for the best-of-five series opener because the Los Angeles Kings were playing an exhibition.Pittsburgh Penguins Gear .S District Court against Major League Baseball, the Office of the Commissioner and his own union, the MLBPA. Penguins Jerseys 2020 . Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its meeting in Barcelona. https://www.cheappenguinsjersey.com/761q-brian-dumoulin-jersey-penguins.html . -- Jacksonville wide receiver Cecil Shorts will likely be a game-time decision whether hell play Sunday in the Jaguars home game against the San Diego Chargers. Matthew Barnaby Jersey .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Dominik Simon Jersey . The 18th player to shoot 60 on the tour, Jamieson settled for par on the final hole when his 15-foot birdie chip grazed the edge of the hole and stayed out. After opening with rounds of 66 and 73 to make the cut by a stroke, he had 11 birdies in the bogey-free round.How does any one player win a week? This past Sunday alone, there were more than a hundred games involving Division I womens soccer teams. A full week offers at least twice that many. Game-winning goals, sprawling saves and last-ditch defending blur into one.Sometimes, instead of focusing on the moment, it is best to imagine what will linger.And decades from now, no one is more likely to fondly remember these past few days than Navy sophomore Anabell Motley, the espnW national soccer player of the week.Such is the power of a rivalry that matters every year and in every sport.Look, there were plenty of impressive individual performances this past week. No one piled up more tangible evidence than LSUs Jorian Baucom, who scored twice in an important SEC win over Mississippi and followed that up with her first career hat trick against Lamar. Or there was Arkansas defender Jessi Hartzler, who not only helped protect her goal but scored twice in her teams 2-1 upset of Florida and kept right on scoring against Lipscomb later in the week.Each was outstanding in the present tense. So were others. But years from now, all of them will have to explain the circumstances to allow people to understand the accomplishment.All Motley will have to do is say she beat Army.Motley entered the week with career totals of one goal and two assists. She added two goals and an assist to those totals in the span of just 67 minutes on the field this past week.Beginning with the goal that matters most in Annapolis in a 1-0 win over Army.Army beat Navy the first five times the teams played womens soccer. Navy won the next six games.dddddddddddd The series has since settled into the kind of back-and-forth tussle the lore of the rivalry demands. Of 28 total meetings, 18 were either decided by a goal or finished level. Each teams seniors entered Fridays game, fittingly, 1-1-1 in the series. It is that kind of rivalry.So it wasnt just a nice bit of skill when Motley let a well-placed pass from Clare MacAdam roll in front of her as she ran down the right side after eight minutes Friday and used her first touch to drive a shot over the goalkeeper and into the back of the net. It was a perfectly executed bit of skill under pressure and in front of 2,347 fans -- almost five times a typical crowd.The second goal of her college career held up as the winner.Nor did Motley rest on her glory. Army vanquished, Navy still had to play a road game at Mount St. Marys two days later. While not a conference game, a loss on the road would have left Navy four games on the wrong side of .500 for the season. If that seems a minor detail, consider that Navy hasnt finished a season with anything other than a winning record since 1994.Even as Navy piled up shots Sunday, the game was scoreless as halftime approached. Then Motley again took a pass from MacAdam and beat the goalkeeper at close range in the 39th minute. She was there again when Navy found some breathing room in the 79th minute, assisting on Natalie Dzhandzhapanyans goal that provided the final margin at 2-0. ' ' '