Diarica Hamby scored 20 points, Ricky Jackson added 19 and the Sparks moved into a tie for last place on the WNBA season with one point. Victory 68-51 about the Minnesota Lynx playoffs on Thursday night.
The Sparks (8-32) snapped an eight-game losing streak and broke Minnesota’s seven-game winning streak. Hamby also passed Nneka Ogwumike as the Sparks’ replacement. individual points leaderending with 691 points.
The top-seeded Lynx (30-10) will face seventh-seeded Phoenix in a best-of-three series on Sunday afternoon.
Kia Nurse added 12 points for the Sparks.
With All-Stars and Olympians Nafisa Collier and 3-point shooter Kayla McBride resting, the Lynx suffered their worst offensive performance of the season.
No Lynx player reached double figures as they shot 28.6% (16-of-56) from the field and committed 17 turnovers. Diamond Miller and Alyssa Peele lead the way with eight, followed by Natisha Heideman with seven and Mayisha Hines-Allen, Bridget Carlton, Alanna Smith and Courtney Williams with six.
The Sparks took an early lead and held on to it. They led by 16 points at halftime, but were outscored 38-30 at the break.
It was 53-44 in the fourth quarter. Williams made a four-point play with 7:39 left to pull Minnesota within 53-48, but Los Angeles scored 13 points to take a 66-48 lead with less than three minutes remaining. Nurse hit three of his four 3-pointers and Rae Burrell added another.
The Sparks finished 2-14 after the Olympic break and will have the best odds in the WNBA lottery.
