NEW YORK — The Sparks’ postseason hopes have not been extinguished, but Thursday night’s 96-89 loss to the New York Liberty means they need three results to go their way during the final days of the regular season and they only control the outcome of one of those games.
Breanna Stewart scored 25 points and Sabrina Ionescu broke the single-season 3-point record Thursday as New York rallied in the second half to beat the Sparks for its eighth consecutive win.
Again playing without All-Star Nneka Ogwumike and several others, the Sparks got a career-high 30 points from Layshia Clarendon, but it was not enough. Clarendon shot 12 for 16 from the field (3 for 4 from 3-point range), but New York’s second-half 3-point barrage was the difference in the game.
The loss leaves the Sparks (16-23) a half-game behind Chicago for the eighth and final playoff spot in the 12-team league. The Sky own the tiebreaker because they won the season series 3-1, so the Sparks have to win their season finale in Seattle on Sunday and must also have Chicago lose its final two games – Friday at home against fifth-place Minnesota and Sunday at Connecticut, which is locked into the No. 3 seed and could opt to rest several rotation players.
Azura Stevens had 18 points, eight rebounds, three steals and four blocked shots, and Rae Burrell added 18 points while going 4 for 6 from 3-point range. Dearica Hamby had 11 points and eight rebounds and Jordin Canada had 10 points and five assists.
New York (32-7) moved a half-game behind Las Vegas in the race for the top seed in the playoffs. The Liberty close the regular season on Sunday at home against Washington (18-20), while the Aces (32-6) have a home-and-home series with last-place Phoenix (9-29) on Friday and Sunday.
Ionescu topped Diana Taurasi’s single-season 3-point mark – albeit in a longer season – and now has 124 this year.
“It’s an honor, any time you’re able to pass arguably the greatest basketball player that ever played in the WNBA,” Ionescu said.
The Liberty’s star guard missed all eight of her shots in the first half, including six from 3-point range, before getting going in the second half. Ionescu made a 3-pointer with 9:12 left in the third quarter to tie Taurasi’s mark of 121, set in 2006. Ionescu then broke the 17-year-old mark with a 3-pointer that she banked in from the corner two minutes later.
“That’s a great accomplishment. Diana is one of the greatest of all time, and Sabrina’s like a little Diana,” said New York coach Sandy Brondello, who also coached Taurasi in Phoenix. “She’s worked at that, she’s a much better shooter than she was last year.”
Stefanie Dolson then got hot from behind the arc. New York trailed by 13 midway through the third quarter before she got going. Dolson, who finished with 17 points, hit five 3-pointers over a 5-minute stretch as the Liberty took their first lead since the opening period.
Her fourth and fifth 3-pointer sent the crowd into a frenzy and gave New York an 81-78 lead with 7:23 left in the game. That started a 17-4 run that put the game away. New York finished 17 for 34 from behind the arc for the night and had 32 assists on its 35 field goals.
“After the first couple went in, I had a lot of confidence,” Dolson said.
She then joked that “low-key, I just closed my eyes and threw it.”
New York was up 21-14 in the first quarter before the Sparks scored 12 straight, including the final nine of the opening period. The Sparks extended their lead to 14 points in the second before Stewart got New York back within 50-43 by halftime. She had 21 points in the opening 20 minutes.
The Sparks have been decimated by injuries all season and Thursday’s game was no different. Nneka Ogwumike (knee), Chiney Ogwumike (foot), Karlie Samuelson (abdomen), Lexie Brown (non-COVID illness), Nia Clouden (knee) and Katie Lou Samuelson (maternity leave) were all out. That left the Sparks with eight healthy players.
The Sparks haven’t had more than 11 players in any game this season and lead the league with 205 games lost to injury or illness.
