Parker makes statement with scintillating performance

Since the first season of the WNBA, there has continued to be negative talk of the WNBA, and how it's "bad" basketball and the players aren't good. That the game isn't the same as watching the NBA.

Please stop it.

Those same naysayers are the ones who have never watched a WNBA game or very little of a game. Saturdays and Sundays game showed the best women athletes competing at the highest level in the world.

More specifically, Sunday’s game between the Los Angeles Sparks and the Seattle Storm, showed the power of the "W" in the WNBA and why the hashtag #winning should be added to go along with #wearewomen #WatchMeWork. Commentators of the NBA often say "that was a grown man move," well Sunday, one player powered over everyone else: her performance was a grown woman's performance!

The final score, 96-66 over the Seattle Storm, only brought light rain and zero reports of basketball sized hail.

Before Sunday, Seattle had shut out Los Angeles in the 2015 season … but, sparks flew as that streak was broken as more than 10-thousand people watched both teams' first game of the 2016 season.

The Storm debuted Breanna Stewart -- the number one draft pick in the 2016 draft -- as she recorded 23 points and six rebounds.

However, Candace Parker's 34 points, lead to a victory for the Sparks.

She truly ignited the court, as this was Parker’s first game since being snubbed for a spot on the women's Olympic team.

Yes, Candace Parker. A player, who is apparently not good enough for the Olympics *scratches head*, but good enough to be the one name that stood out amongst the rest in the season opener.

Luckily for Parker, she can show focus on what's important, her career, and this WNBA season — and that's easy to do when you don't have to worry about the Zika Virus, or someone’s seemingly personal agenda …

The breakdown of the game —-

The Sparks were up by eight early in the first quarter, rounding out with a score of 26 to 15. Before reaching the half, Los Angeles absolutely foreshadowed the defeat for the Storm, bringing the heat by ending the second up 25 more points than their Western Conference foes, 51-26.

Into the second half of the game, Seattle attempted a comeback, scoring 25 points in the third, but it wasn't enough with a score of 51-65 at the end of the quarter. In the last 10 minutes, the Sparks scored 31 points, and the Storm were only able to grab an extra 15 points, as Los Angeles cruised to a 96-66 final.

Next, the L.A Sparks head to D.C. on May 20th to play the Washington Mystics at the Verizon center, while the Seattle Storm are heading to Phoenix on the 20th to take on the Mercury at Talking Stick Resort Arena.