Nneka Ogwumike posts a career night as Los Angeles Sparks edge out Indiana Fever 77-74 - WNBA Recap
Los Angeles Sparks rookie Nneka Ogwumike scored 22 points and had 20 boards on Thursday night game against Indiana Fever. The game remained indecisive till the end but fuelled by Nneka’s double-double Sparks eventually managed
to edge out Fever 77-74 here at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Ogwumike hauled down 12 offensive rebounds on the night to tie a WNBA record and was the mean reason why Sparks outrebounded Fever 47-31.
Candace Parker tallied 19 points to go with 7 boards while Guard Kristi Toliver also netted 19 points for Sparks in the final game before a 5-week Olympic break.
Fever’s Tamika Catchings marshalled all players with 27 points, but missed a 3 pointer at the death, which could have pushed the game into overtime. Briann January also added 11 points in Fever’s 7th loss of the season.
With 12 ties and 11 lead changes the game kept the crowd on the edge of their seats, and went right down to the wire. It started evenly and midway into the opening frame Indiana were having a fragile 6-4 lead. Sparks reeled off
13-6 burst however Indiana bounced back and Catchings served a trey in the dying second to narrow down the gap to 17-15 by the end of 1st frame.
Indiana made a 13-7 start to the second frame and changed hands with a 28-24 lead. Sparks narrowed the deficit to 30-28, before Fever capped of the frame with a 11-2 run to take a nine point lead at the break.
Sparks opened the third with a 10-2 spurt and trimmed down the lead to 41-40. Indiana however followed with a 10-4 burst and widened the gap to 51-44. Sparks refused to back down though and pulled off a12-2 run to claim a 56-53
lead. Fever closed the period with four consecutive points to close it at a 57-56 advantage.
At the start of the fourth, the Sparks quickly clawed off Fever’s lead with an 8-2 run. However, Fever roared back for a 67-66 with an 8-2 burst of their own, before Los Angeles replied with a 6-3 run and redeemed their lead at
73-69.
January hit one from downtown and Larkins came up with a jumper for Indiana, who took a slender 74-73 advantage. Parker and Toliver netted a pair each from the charity stripe and helped Sparks to get the decisive 77-74 lead.
In the ensuing passage the nerves started to take its toll. Ogwumike lost it for a moment and displayed her boxing skills with Erlana Larkins. However with Catchings missing a 3-pointer at the death, Sparks rolled onto a 5 game
winning streak.
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