With just three games left in their regular season, the Los Angeles Sparks will try to stay alive in the WNBA playoff hunt beginning with Sunday’s date against the visiting Dallas Wings.
Los Angeles (19-22) sits two games behind Seattle for eighth place and the last spot in the postseason. The Sparks helped their cause with a head-to-head win over the Storm last Monday, 91-85, but come into Sunday’s contest having dropped their last two.
Los Angeles dropped back-to-back games in Atlanta, 86-75 Wednesday and 104-85 Friday.
“We’ve got a great locker room in there,” Sparks assistant coach Mike Neighbors said following Friday’s loss. “They’ll rally around each other. They’ve done it repeatedly throughout the year. We’ve battled a lot of adversity from day one with injuries and stuck together.”
Overcoming a 6-14 start to the season, Los Angeles has given itself hope of sneaking into the playoffs behind the performances of veterans Kelsey Plum, who averages a team-high 19.9 points per game, and Dearica Hamby, averaging 18.4 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Second-year forward Rickea Jackson also has stepped into a key role, scoring at least 15 points in each of the Sparks’ last four games. Jackson has scored in double-figures in nine of the last 10 contests. Her high in that stretch was a 25-point performance when Los Angeles last saw Dallas on Aug. 20.
The Sparks took an 81-80 decision in that matchup, improving to 3-0 on the season vs. the Wings (9-33).
The one-point loss is part of the nine-game losing streak Dallas takes into Sunday’s game. The skid continued Thursday in an 84-80 final at Golden State, despite rookie sensation Paige Bueckers’ 27 points and six assists.
Bueckers has been a highlight in an otherwise trying season for the last-place Wings, leading the squad with 19.1 points and 5.3 assists per game. She erupted for 44 points in the Aug. 20 meeting with Los Angeles, tying a WNBA rookie record.
“What we want to show every night (is) a fight,” Bueckers said following Thursday’s loss at Golden State. “Regardless of who we have, what our record is, we’re not focused on that.”
Dallas has dealt with its share of injury struggles, most notably the absence of three-time All-WNBA honoree Arike Ogunbowale, who has been diagnosed with tendinitis in her right knee. A four-time All-Star, Ogunbowale is averaging 15.5 points per game but last played Aug. 10.
–Field Level Media
