Erica Wheeler drained a go-ahead 16-footer with 19.2 seconds left and the Seattle Storm clinched the WNBA’s final playoff spot with a dramatic 74-73 victory over the visiting Golden State Valkyries on Tuesday night.
As the Los Angeles Sparks were beating the Phoenix Mercury to keep their playoff hopes alive, Wheeler doused them with the clutch shot from the right side of the free-throw line to cap a 17-point outing off the bench that included five 3-pointers.
Nneka Ogwumike recorded 16 points and eight rebounds for eighth-place Seattle (23-21). Brittney Sykes scored 14 points and Skylar Diggins had 10.
Janelle Salaun made five 3-pointers and had 22 points for Golden State (23-20), but she missed two late shots — one from inside and the other from 3-point range — on the Valkyries’ final possession. Golden State fell into seventh place with the defeat and the Indiana Fever’s win over the Minnesota Lynx.
Veronica Burton registered 14 points and 11 assists, Temi Fagbenle also scored 14 points and Kaila Charles had 12 points and nine boards for Golden State.
Seattle shot 40.6 percent from the field, but was 7 of 17 (41.2 percent) from 3-point range.
Golden State made 40 percent of its shots and was 10 of 29 (34.5 percent) from behind the arc.
Iliana Rupert swished a 3-pointer to give the Valkyries a 73-72 lead with 37.4 seconds remaining before Wheeler’s big shot.
Seattle faced an eight-point deficit when the fourth quarter began before ripping off the first 10 points of the stanza. Wheeler connected on two treys during the run, the latter one giving the Storm a 63-61 lead with 7:37 left in the contest.
Golden State regained the lead at 68-67 on a 3-pointer by Salaun with 2:36 left. But Wheeler connected on a trey 25 seconds later to put Seattle back ahead.
After Fagbenle tied the score at 70 on a layup, Diggins split two free throws as the Storm led by one with 1:17 to go.
Ogwumike split two free throws with 41.4 seconds remaining to push the Seattle lead to two.
Seattle trailed by three at halftime and soon found itself down by seven. But the Storm answered with a 12-2 run and Wheeler capped it with a trey that gave Seattle a 50-47 lead with 4:01 left in the third quarter.
The Valkyries responded with 13 straight points to open a 10-point advantage. Salaun buried consecutive treys to start the burst and Billings added a 3-pointer to make it 56-50 with 2:25 left. Burton and Billings added baskets to end the run.
Golden State led 61-53 entering the fourth quarter.
Charles had 12 first-half points as the Valkyries led 36-33 at the break.
–Field Level Media
