Los Angeles — The Connecticut Sun had their best first quarter of the season late Thursday night, dropping 32 points on the defending WNBA champion Los Angeles Sparks.

It all unraveled quickly afterwards for Connecticut.

Fouls, technicals, frustration and Los Angeles got to the Sun in the second quarter. They were unable to recover and had their five-game losing streak snapped by the Sparks, 87-77, before 9,918 at STAPLES Center.

Connecticut led 32-18 after the first quarter.

Los Angeles outscored the Sun, 51-25, in the second and third quarters combined.

"That second quarter, you know, they punched back at us a little bit," Connecticut's Jasmine Thomas said. "They started driving it at us, moving the ball, and getting us to move around a little bit. And you know we had some calls that we were frustrated that we didn’t get, and we let it frustrate us.”

The Sun (11-8) led 41-32 with over five minutes left in the second quarter when Jonquel Jones and Alyssa Thomas were called for back-to-back offensive fouls.

Riquna Williams drove the lane on Los Angeles' next possession and was fouled by Lynetta Kizer. Kizer was also hit with a technical foul.

A three-point play by the Sparks' Chelsea Gray tied the game at 45 with 37.2 seconds left in the first half.

Connecticut head coach Curt Miller was called for a technical foul moments later, and Nneka Ogwumike made the technical free throw to give the Sparks a 46-45 halftime lead. They never trailed again.

The Sun had seven fouls in the second quarter. Los Angeles wasn't called for any and shot 8-of-10 from the free throw line.

“I think we just kind of got a little frustrated with the way that we thought the game was being called," Jones said. "We have to have a more mature mindset. … not letting things we can't control get us out of the game."

Ogwumike, last season's WNBA MVP, made 10 of her 14 shots and had a game-high 29 points and 11 rebounds.

"She's just an energy player," Jasmine Thomas said about Ogwumike. "She’s always ready to do whatever for the team. Run, get the rebound, running rim-to-rim, run offense, she’s a great screener. So with all the weapons that they have out there, how do you only guard one person? Pick your poison.”

Candace Parker had 20 points, nine rebounds, six assists and two blocks for Los Angeles (13-5), which lost its previous two games on the road. It's 8-0 at home.

Chelsea Gray, who was bloodied by an errant Ogwumike elbow in the first quarter, scored nine of her 17 in the second quarter for the Sparks.

Jones shot 7-of-9 for 20 points with seven rebounds for the Sun. Jasmine Thomas scored 14, albeit on 6-of-17 shooting. She also had five steals.

Reserve Alex Bentley scored 11 and Courtney Williams scored 10 for Connecticut, which had played Wednesday afternoon at the Seattle Storm.

"You've got to give a lot of credit to (Los Angeles) first and foremost," Miller said. "I thought we missed some assignments in the second and third quarter. With a short turnaround (between games), we missed some assignments that we prepared for.

"We played really well in the first quarter and showed that we were ready, but we ran out of a bit of gas. Credit to them. They’re a championship team and they broke us down.”

Connecticut plays host to the San Antonio Stars on Sunday. It plays at the New York Liberty next Wednesday morning before the All-Star break.

The Sun have won 10 of their last 13 and are ahead of last season's pace (they were 5-14 after 19 games).

“Connecticut is a very good team," Los Angeles head coach Brian Agler said. "They are the real deal.”