Nneka Ogwumike scored a season-high 35 points as the host Los Angeles Sparks ended a three-game losing streak by defeating the Indiana Fever 86-79 on Tuesday night.
Ogwumike fell three points short of her career high and Jordin Canada added 11 points and eight assists for the Sparks (11-14).
Tiffany Mitchell scored a season high for the third time in five games, finishing with 22 points to lead the Fever (5-23), who committed 24 turnovers in losing their 10th consecutive game.
NaLyssa Smith added 14 points, Kelsey Mitchell had 12, Victoria Vivians scored 11 and Emma Cannon 10.
Smith’s basket started the third-quarter scoring and pulled Indiana even at 42.
The score was tied twice more before Ogwumike made three free throws and Canada added a basket to give Los Angeles a 57-52 lead.
Cannon had five points during an 8-0 run that gave the Fever a 60-57 lead.
The Sparks scored the next nine points before Tiffany Mitchell’s basket pulled Indiana within 66-62.
Cannon’s basket tied the score at 68 early in the fourth quarter, but the Fever went cold.
Ogwumike scored the final four points in a 10-0 Los Angeles run.
Kelsey Mitchell made two free throws to end a 3 1/2-minute scoring drought for Indiana, but Brittney Sykes answered with a tip-in that restored a 10-point margin.
Vivians’ jumper produced the Fever’s first basket in 5 1/2 minutes, but they didn’t get any closer until the final seconds.
In the first quarter, Ogwumike scored five points during a 9-0 run that gave the Sparks an 11-5 lead.
Los Angeles led by six points twice more before Indiana trimmed the deficit to 22-20 at the end of the quarter.
Tiffany Mitchell’s basket started the second-quarter scoring and tied the score. She added another basket and a three-point play that pushed the Fever in front, 35-30.
The Sparks scored seven straight to regain the lead, and the lead changed hands twice more before Los Angeles held a 42-40 halftime lead.
–Field Level Media
