Liz Cambage racked up 21 points and 11 rebounds and Nneka Ogwumike also scored 21 points as the Los Angeles Sparks came from behind to beat the Dallas Wings 97-89 on Friday in Arlington, Texas.
The Sparks (8-11) trailed by as many as nine points late in the second quarter and by three at halftime before rolling in front to stay with a surge midway through the third quarter. Los Angeles pushed its advantage to as many as nine points in the fourth.
The Sparks earned the 500th win in franchise history, becoming the first team in WNBA history to reach that milestone. The Phoenix Mercury are a distant second on the franchise wins list with 434.
Cambage logged her second consecutive double-double and her third of the season. Katie Lou Samuelson added 14 points for Los Angeles, with Lexie Brown hitting for 13 and Kristi Toliver tallying a season-high-tying 11 points.
Arike Ogunbowale led the Wings with 23 points. Marina Mabrey scored 17 points, Teaira McCowan added 12 points and 10 rebounds and Allisha Gray put up 10 points for Dallas (9-12).
Los Angeles led 13-7 after a putback by Ogwumike with 6:33 left in the first quarter.
The Wings then forged a 10-4 run to pull even on McCowan’s reverse layup. Dallas added the next four points to take a 21-17 advantage before settling for a 27-24 edge after the first 10 minutes of play.
The Sparks retied the game at 29-29 in a pair of free throws by Samuelson. Dallas reassumed the lead and went up 38-31 on a Gray layup.
The Wings were in front 45-37 when Satou Sabally completed a three-point play with 2:11 to go before halftime, but Los Angeles finished the period with a flurry and trailed just 49-46 at the break.
McCowan hit all five of her shots from the field and paced all scorers with 12 points in the first half, all in the first quarter. Brown led the Sparks with 10 points by halftime on 4-of-4 shooting from the floor.
Los Angeles took the lead for good with an 8-0 run in the middle of the third quarter and was up by eight points after a 3-pointer by Samuelson with 1:35 to play in the period. The Sparks settled for a 71-66 advantage heading into the final 10 minutes.
–Field Level Media
