Rookie Candace Parker slams road-jinxed Storm

LOS ANGELES — Basketball is really getting in the way of life for Candace Parker.

Tuesday she had to skip an acceptance speech for winning BET's award for "Best Female Athlete" because she was busy dunking on the Storm in the Los Angeles Sparks' 76-62 win at Staples Center.

The nerve!

Seattle would have rented the limo and bought the dress for Parker to skip the game if it had known just how effective the rookie would be. Going to work like a seasoned veteran, Parker collected 22 points and 11 rebounds.

But it was Parker's final basket that will get the most attention. The 6-foot-4 forward collected a bad pass from Storm forward Katie Gearlds and calmly dribbled down court as the crowd of 8,032 rose to its feet, knowing what was to come after witnessing a similar play on Sunday. Parker eyed the hoop with a throng of green jerseys trailing her and tossed down her second one-handed WNBA slam, with 57.9 seconds remaining.

"She dunks too easy to be like, 'I can't believe she dunked on us!' " said Storm guard Sue Bird. "She's going to do it a million more times before her career is over. Hopefully, it'll make other people shut up about how the women's game isn't above the rim."

Sparks teammate Lisa Leslie is the only other player to dunk in the league, accomplishing the feat six years ago.

The Storm (8-7) is more concerned with the loss, their sixth consecutive road defeat.

The lone moment when Seattle's veteran lineup schooled the Sparks' rookie was when Sheryl Swoopes drove on Parker for a finger roll with 4:30 left in the game. By then, though, the Sparks (10-3) were already ahead 64-53.

Otherwise, Los Angeles used its league-leading rebounding skills to keep Seattle out of the game. The Sparks out-rebounded the Storm 44-32 and outscored Seattle 21-9 in second-chance shot opportunities.

"The discrepancy is just too much," said guard Tanisha Wright, whose team was out-rebounded 17-8 on the offensive glass. "Seventeen offensive rebounds is border line of what people get defensively. It's bad and it's just effort and us putting our mind to just getting it done."

The Storm's inability to get anything going offensively prompted coach Brian Agler to play his reserves more than he has before this season.

After taking a 35-33 lead into halftime, Los Angeles opened the third quarter with a 6-2 run to stretch the lead to six points. By the time center Lisa Leslie hit one free throw and guard Marie Ferdinand-Harris converted an offensive rebound into a layin with 3:14 remaining, the Sparks led 51-41.

A turnaround jump shot by Lauren Jackson with 2:02 left in the quarter ended nearly a three-minute scoring drought. Seattle was 2 of 18 shooting from the field in the third quarter and the slump put the Storm down 57-43 heading into the final 10 minutes.

The good news for Seattle is that the Storm returns home today and does not play again until Sunday, when it hosts Washington at KeyArena. Seattle is 6-1 when it has at least two days in between games.

"We still have time — a long way to go — but we need to start winning," Bird said. "The West is too tight and there are too many good teams. Even though it's June, it's a playoff race and every game really does count."

Jayda Evans: 206-464-2067 or jevans@seattletimes.com