In dramatic simultaneous finishes, the Sparks earned a necessary win over the Phoenix Mercury on Tuesday, 87-83, at the same time as the Storm won over the Valkyries, officially eliminating LA from the playoffs.
As the purple and gold polished off their victory in Phoenix, Erica Wheeler came up with an enormous shot in Seattle that put the Storm ahead by one with 17 seconds remaining. Golden State had chances to take the lead but failed to convert, leading to Seattle surviving and clinching their spot
in the postseason.
For the Sparks, Dearica Hamby scored 25 points with nine rebounds and five assists. Kelsey Plum ended the night with 17 points and five assists. Rae Burrell had a huge game off the bench with 20 points, going 7-12 from the field.
Cameron Brink pitched in with four points and six rebounds. Rickea Jackson notched seven points. Julie Allemand ended with seven points, three rebounds and four assists.
It was a good start for both teams offensively. Jackson drained a 3-pointer for LA and Plum was shining with six points, going 2-3 from behind the arc. Phoenix’s Satou Sabally was cooking with five early points.
At the 4:34 mark, the Mercury were up by three.
Los Angeles started losing steam with their offense, leading to Phoenix extending its lead. Sami Whitcomb put in work off the bench for the Mercury with five points.
Jackson only converted on two of her four shot attempts for five points. At the end of the first, the purple and gold were down by six.
The Sparks started the second quarter with better offense as Brink notched four quick points and Burrell drained a 3-pointer. At the first timeout, LA was down by only one, though Sabally scored on a layup out of the break to stop the run.
Burrell’s excellent play off the bench continued with her draining another 3-pointer. She then scored again on a layup. Burrell was up to 12 points and was the first player on the team in double figures.
With 2:40 left in the half, LA jumped ahead by two after a 3-pointer from Plum.
LA had zero answer for Sabally, who was now up to 17 points in the half. Burrell added another layup and Dearica was able to finally score with a layup.
Alyssa Thomas scored a quick four points to put Phoenix back up by one. Hamby scored another four points to help put the Sparks up by one at halftime.
Los Angeles started the third with a 9-0 scoring run. Azurá Stevens scored her first points of the night off two free throws. Allemand drained a 3-pointer and was shooting 75% from the field.
The Mercury answered back with a 7-0 scoring run themselves to make it a two-point game. Sabally was still cooking LA, scoring another six points for her team. Thomas, meanwhile, notched another triple-double for the season.
A hook shot from Thomas and a 3-pointer from Whitcomb put Phoenix back into the lead with 3:16 left in the third. An easy layup from Kahleah Copper added to what became a 15-2 run.
Stevens drained a much-needed 3-pointer for the Sparks, breaking a five-minute scoring drought for the team.
Burrell converted on a layup, pushing her point total to 18. Los Angeles was up by one going into the fourth.
The final frame began with a free throw battle as both teams kept getting to the charity stripe. Hamby was now in double figures with 12 after she converted on a layup.
Lexi Held scored a quick four points off the bench to keep the Mercury in the lead. A big time block from Brink led into a 3-pointer from Plum, helping lead to a tie game with 4:40 left.
Hamby fully took over, scoring 10 points to help the Sparks keep a lead with 1:01 remaining. Kiana Williams drained two 3-pointers off the bench for Phoenix.
With 1.2 seconds left, Stevens drained two free throws to seal the win for LA, thought it would not be enough to earn a playoff spot.
Key Takeaways:
WELP.
This is a Burrell appreciation takeaway. She is such a perfect jolt of energy and fight off the bench.
The Sparks’ next game will be the final game of the season on Thursday against the Las Vegas Aces at 7:00 PM PT.
You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.
