
Anchorage’s Alissa Pili returned to the WNBA for the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday night.
Alissa Pili of Anchorage enjoyed a historic night in her return to the WNBA on Wednesday.
The third-year pro with the Los Angeles Sparks recorded her 100th career point and grabbed a career-high five rebounds in a 106-92 win over the Indiana Fever in front of 12,939 fans.
Pili came off the bench to play 12 minutes and make 2-of-3 field goals to go with two assists and a +5 plus/minus.
“My main focus today was ‘how can I impact the game?’ It doesn’t just have to be scoring,” she told reporters. “I wanted to bring energy and do what I could with the time I got.”
Pil’s rebounds total broke her previous career high of four set multiple times. She also had two offensive boards in a game for the first time in 42 career appearances.
This was her first game since February in Australia’s WNBL.
“I definitely had nerves, but once I got out there, it felt really good,” she said with a smile. “Today, we really played together, and that’s like the best basketball and so much fun to be a part of.”

The 25-year-old Alaskan signed with the Sparks this week on a player development contract – but she looked more like a rotation player, finishing seventh on the team in minutes against the Fever.
In addition to scoring her 100th point, she surpassed the 50-rebound benchmark as well.
Pili, of Dimond High fame, ranks fifth among Alaskans in all-time WNBA scoring.
She needs to play in four more games to catch Andrea Lloyd (46) for fourth on the all-time games list among players from The Last Frontier.


