Sparks face elimination against Seattle

The Sparks’ season has come down to this: Lose Saturday and it’s over. But they aren’t fazed by it.

“When our back has been up against the wall, we’ve responded,” said forward DeLisha Milton-Jones. “I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

That challenge is the Seattle Storm, the WNBA’s top team, which remained undefeated on its home turf Wednesday with a 79-66 victory over the Sparks in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals. Game 2 of the best-of-three series is at noon at Staples Center.

Still, the Storm is simply the latest in a string of challenges for the Sparks, who early on lost veteran guard Betty Lennox and 2008 WNBA most valuable player Candace Parker to injury and had to learn to play without three-time MVP Lisa Leslie, who retired at the end of last season.

This series underscores what the 6-foot-5 Leslie brought to the team. The Storm’s leading scorer, Lauren Jackson, also is 6-5 and tough to contain. In Game 1, the task of defending her fell primarily to 6-2 Tina Thompson, and it hasn’t been easy. The Sparks even occasionally triple-teamed Jackson. Yet she still scored 17 points.

“That’s the main thing that’s killing us,” Sparks Coach Jennifer Gillom said. “We’re there, but they can make a lob pass over our guards.”

It didn’t help that in July the Storm clinched home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, allowing Seattle to give its starters plenty of rest. The fourth-seeded Sparks, on the other hand, didn’t clinch a playoff berth until their final home game. And, being down two players, Gillom’s starters had to play a lot of minutes.

The difference showed in Game 1, as the Storm jumped to a 25-15 lead and the Sparks never fully recovered.

“They came out in the first quarter looking like a team that just started the season,” Gillom said.

Although Gillom said she has tried to rest her starters during practices, it wasn’t always possible. She said the team has been so short-handed that she’s had to participate in practices.

“I’m getting a workout,” Gillom said, laughing.

This is the third consecutive season that the Sparks and the Storm have met in the first round of the playoffs. The Sparks prevailed the last two years, and despite their recent challenges, they’re not making excuses this time around.

“Tired, injured, weary?” said Thompson, who leads the Sparks in points (16.6) and rebounds (6.2). “All that stuff goes out the door when you get to the playoffs.”

melissa.rohlin@latimes.com