Teaira McCowan’s third-chance layup with 7.4 seconds to play put Dallas in front after a furious comeback, lifting the Wings to an unlikely 113-110 win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Sunday afternoon in Arlington, Texas.
Natasha Howard canned two free throws with 2.5 seconds left to seal the victory in a battle between the bottom two teams in the WNBA standings.
The Wings trailed by 22 late in the third quarter and by 19 heading into the final 10 minutes but stormed back to set the stage for McCowan and Howard’s late heroics. Dallas (7-22) snapped a three-game losing streak and remained in 11th place while keeping the Sparks (6-24) in the cellar.
The victory was the first for Dallas since July 17. Arike Ogunbowale led the Wings with 33 points, with Howard adding 30, Satou Sabally scoring 19 and McCowan racking up 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Odyssey Sims paced Los Angeles with 26 points and 10 assists off the bench against her former team. Rickea Jackson added 25 points, Dearica Hamby had 21 and Azura Stevens hit for 15 for the Sparks, who lost their seventh straight game.
Jackson scored the game’s first eight points over the initial 1:28 in staking the Sparks to an early lead. Los Angeles stoked its advantage to 19-8 on Sims’ layup with 1:53 to play in the period and led 26-13 on the strength of Jackson’s 16 points over the first 10 minutes of play.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Ogunbowale, the second at the 6:40 mark of the second period, allowed Dallas to draw to within 33-27. The Wings got as close as two points on a McCowan jumper with 3:38 remaining in the half before Los Angeles reasserted itself, scoring 15 of the quarter’s final 22 points to forge a 55-45 advantage at the break.
Jackson (19 points on 7-of-8 shooting) and Sims (16 points) combined to amass 35 of the Sparks’ points before halftime. Ogunbowale led Dallas with 15 points in the half, with Howard adding a dozen.
Los Angeles seemingly put the game on ice with a dominating third quarter, expanding its lead to as many as 22 points before settling for a 92-73 edge heading into the final period.
–Field Level Media