MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Nneka Ogwumike’s putback of her own miss with 7.3 seconds left lifted the Los Angeles Sparks to an 85-83 win over the Minnesota Lynx.
Rachel Banham’s jumper with 26.6 seconds to go pulled Minnesota even for just the second time. The game was also tied at 65 after the Lynx erased a 17-point first-half deficit.
Ogwumike finished with 16 points. Chennedy Carter led the Sparks (4-6), who had lost six of seven, with 20 points. Liz Cambage added 15 points and Katie Lou Samuelson 13.
Sylvia Fowles and Aerial Powers both had 15 points for the Lynx (2-7). Augustus was a key player on Minnesota’s four WNBA championship teams. The No. 1 overall pick out of LSU in the 2006 draft played 14 seasons with the Lynx before spending one year with Los Angeles.
STORM 92, LIBERTY 61
SEATTLE (AP) — Jewell Loyd scored 22 points, Jantel Lavender had a double-double and the Seattle Storm routed New York, the seventh-straight loss for the Liberty.
Breanna Stewart had 14 points, eight rebounds, six steals and five assists for Seattle, which beat the Liberty for the second time in three days despite having three players miss both games in protocol, including Sue Bird.
Lavender had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Briann January also had 12 points and Kaela Davis, in her first game with the Storm (5-3) had 11 points.
Han Xu led the Liberty (1-7) with 13 points.
DREAM 82, MERCURY 54
ATLANTA (AP) — Kristy Wallace had 17 points to lead five Atlanta players scoring in double figures and the Dream beat the Mercury.
The 28-point margin of victory was Atlanta’s largest since beating the Los Angeles Sparks by 30 in 2015.
Erica Wheeler scored 16 points, Cheyenne Parker had 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Rhyne Howard had 12 points with six assists for Atlanta (5-3). Aari McDonald finished with 10 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals.
The Dream never trailed, took at 12-point lead at the end of the first quarter and limited Phoenix (2-6) to just eight points in the second to take a 50-23 lead into halftime.
Diamond DeShields, the only Mercury player to score in double figures, finished with 23 points. Skylar Diggins-Smith (19.2 points per game) and Diana Taurasi (16.0) — the team’s top scorers — combined for nine points on 3-of-17 shooting.
Phoenix has lost five consecutive games.
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