Brittney Sykes shot 8-for-11 from the floor and finished with 25 points off the bench to lead the host Los Angeles Sparks past the Dallas Wings 93-91 on Tuesday.
Sykes’ big night, which included dishing a team-high-matching six assists, reached a critical crescendo down the stretch. Sykes and Nneka Ogwumike combined for all of Los Angeles’ points in an 8-0 run that followed a Dallas comeback and ultimately lifted the Sparks to victory.
Los Angeles (5-6) picked up back-to-back wins for the first time since the regular season’s first two games, and did so without Jordin Canada in the lineup. A hamstring injury sidelined Canada for a second consecutive contest, giving the start to Chennedy Carter.
Carter was one of five Sparks scorers to record at least nine points, finishing with nine on 4-of-7 shooting from the floor.
Liz Cambage set the tone with seven first-quarter points and finished with 19 points and eight rebounds for the Sparks. Katie Lou Samuelson added 13 points, and Ogwumike finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Dallas (5-4) trailed by as many as 16 points in the second quarter and went into halftime down 12. The Wings chipped away at the deficit in the second half, culminating in an 18-7 run over the first 5:10 of the fourth quarter that gave them an 83-80 lead.
Satou Sabally accounted for nine of Dallas’ points over the run and scored all 12 of her points on the night in the final period. She also assisted on another pair of buckets during the late burst, finding Isabelle Harrison and Marina Mabrey for layups.
Harrison scored a team-high 20 points off the bench, and Mabrey and Arike Ogunbowale finished with 16 points apiece for Dallas. Allisha Gray had 10.
After missing a would-be, game-tying 3-pointer with less than a minute remaining, Sabally connected on another 3-point attempt and assisted Harrison on a triple that pulled Dallas to within two points with 5.8 seconds remaining.
Sykes committed an offensive foul on the ensuing inbound. Ogunbowale drew a shooting foul on Cambage but missed both foul shots with 0.8 seconds left.
The Wings dropped consecutive games for the first time this season.
–Field Level Media