NEW YORK (AP) — Sabrina Ionescu scored eight of her 20 points in the final 2:18 and the Liberty rallied from a 15-point deficit in the third quarter to beat the Los Angeles Sparks 64-61 on Wednesday night.
The Liberty (13-18) earned two wins over the Sparks (12-19) in the span of 24 hours, sweeping the back-to-back set. New York had a much tougher time than its 102-73 victory a night earlier to stay in the playoff hunt.
Coming into Wednesday night’s games, one game separated the seventh through 11th places in the standings. With the win, New York moved into a tie with Phoenix for seventh.
Trailing 50-35 with 5:23 left in the third quarter, New York held Los Angeles to 11 points the rest of the game, outscoring the Sparks by 18.
Nneka Ogwumike scored 19 points to lead Los Angeles.
DREAM 91, FEVER 81
ATLANTA (AP) — Rhyne Howard scored 20 points, Cheyenne Parker added 17 and the Dream handed the Fever its 15th straight loss.
Atlanta (13-18) ended a four-game losing streak and moved into a three-way tie for seventh in the standings.
Atlanta led 64-34 early in the third quarter before Indiana battled back to get within single digits in the fourth. Indiana outscored Atlanta 28-13 in the third to get within 75-62 and started the fourth by scoring 15 of the first 22 points to make it 82-77 with 5:02 left. But the Dream scored seven straight points and led by at least nine points the rest of the way.
Atlanta made 14 of its first 18 shots (77.9%) and led 36-17 after the first quarter. The Dream started the second quarter on a 7-1 run for a 43-18 lead, and it was 62-34 at halftime. The Dream had 21 assists on 23 made field goals and shot 62.2% from the field in the first half.
NaLyssa Smith scored 21 points for Indiana (5-28).
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