2 weeks Ago
Dearica Hamby scored 20 points, Rickea Jackson added 19 and the last-place Sparks closed the WNBA season with a 68-51 win over the playoff-bound Minnesota Lynx on Thursday night. The Sparks (8-32) ended an eight-game losing streak and stopped Minnesota’s seven-game winning streak. In addition, Hamby passed Nneka Ogwumike as the Sparks’ single-season points leader , finishing with 691 points.
The second-seeded Lynx (30-10) are home against seventh-seeded Phoenix in the best-of-three opening round on Sunday afternoon. Kia Nurse added 12 points for the Sparks. Resting All-Star and Olympian Napheesa Collier and three-point sharpshooter Kayla McBride, the Lynx had their worst offensive output of the season.
No player reached double figures for the Lynx as they shot 28.6% (16 of 56) from the field and had 17 turnovers. Diamond Miller and Alissa Pili led the way with eight while Natisha Hiedeman had seven and Myisha Hines-Allen, Bridget Carleton, Alanna Smith and Courtney Williams all had six.
The Sparks took the lead early and kept it. They had a 16-point lead in the first half, but settled for a 38-30 advantage at the break. It was 53-44 heading into the fourth quarter.
Williams completed a four-point play with 7:39 remaining to pull Minnesota within 53-48 but L.A. scored the next 13 points for a 66-48 lead with under three minutes remaining.
Nurse had three of her four 3-pointers in the surge and Rae Burrell added another. The Sparks went 2-14 after the Olympic break and will have the best odds in the WNBA draft lottery..
