The Los Angeles Sparks aim to ride the momentum of a last-second victory over the Indiana Fever when the teams reconvene at Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon.
Jordin Canada’s 3-pointer with 3.2 seconds remaining capped a fourth-quarter rally, helping the host Sparks snap a franchise-worst, eight-game losing streak with a 79-78 victory on Tuesday.
“It feels good to win … the game-winning shot, I was feeling confident all night in shooting, and I just tried to make a play and it went in. That’s it,” Canada said.
Canada made 7 of 13 shots from the floor — including 3 of 5 from 3-point range — during her 20-point performance. She also had a game-high 10 assists to ignite the Sparks (8-15) to their first win since their 93-83 victory over the Dallas Wings on June 25.
Nneka Ogwumike erupted for a season-high 30 points to go along with eight rebounds on Tuesday. Azura Stevens contributed 15 points and six rebounds for Los Angeles.
“Those three really carried us, but more importantly they led by example with the energy and effort that we talked about that this game was going to come down to,” Sparks coach Curt Miller said of Canada, Ogwumike and Stevens.
Kelsey Mitchell scored 19 points and Victoria Vivians added 17 for the slumping Fever (6-17), who have lost 10 of their last 11 games.
“It’s not our youth, because we have over half of the season now,” Vivians said, per the Indianapolis Star. “We’ve been going hard, ever since the beginning with training camp. We don’t have an excuse for youth anymore, we just have to buy in to what the coaches are saying and execute.”
Former Sparks guard Erica Wheeler collected 15 points and eight assists in a losing effort for the Fever.
Indiana rookie Aliyah Boston was plagued by foul trouble and finished with nine points in 26 minutes.
–Field Level Media
