LOS ANGELES — Nneka Ogwumike scored 12 of her game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter and drained a game-winning 3-pointer as time expired to lead the Sparks to a 98-97 comeback victory against the New York Liberty at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday, in a contest that celebrated the league’s 30th anniversary.
The Sparks trailed by 12 points at halftime and stormed back by having six players reach double figures in the scoring column. Guard Rae Burrell scored 19 points on her 26th birthday. Erica Wheeler scored 15 points. Kelsey Plum and Dearica Hamby both scored 12 points apiece. Ariel Atkins had 10 points.
“I just need KP to be KP,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said before the game. “She’s the engine and she generates so much gravity when she has the ball. She’s an unselfish scorer as counterintuitive as that sounds.”
The Sparks improved to 8-8 overall and are now 7-0 when Plum records seven or more assists.
“I know she knows it can’t just be her,” Roberts continued. “She’s looking to get others involved. That’s what we need tonight from her.”
PREGAME: Los Angeles Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts on the franchise’s championship legacy, playing against the New York Liberty without Cameron Brink and Kelsey Plum’s impact on winning after missing one game with a leg injury. pic.twitter.com/IP9KX2M1tv
— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) June 22, 2026
The Liberty (11-6) are on a two-game losing streak. They also had six players reach double figures in the scoring column: Breanna Stewart (18), Jonquel Jones (18), Pauline Astier (17), Satou Sabally (14), Leonie Fiebich (13), Marine Johannes (10).
However, Liberty All-Star guard Sabrina Ionescu was held to two points on 1-of-3 shooting in 22 minutes.
Wheeler’s fast break layup cut the Liberty’s lead to 76-70 heading into the fourth quarter. The Sparks outscored the Liberty by a 27-21 margin in the third quarter. Ariel Atkins’ reverse layup cut it to 76-72 early in the fourth.
Hamby’s layup cut it to 84-81 with 6:12 to go. Wheeler’s 3-pointer tied the game at 84. Sabally made 1 of 2 free throws to go up 85-84. Plum’s full-court pass to Ogwumike for a layup gave the Sparks an 86-85 lead with 3:50 to go, the team’s first advantage since early in the first quarter. Ogwumike’s next bucket put them up 88-85. Jones’ 3-pointer tied the game at 88. Breanna Stewart’s layup made it 90-88. Ogwumike’s layup tied it at 90.
Astier’s three-point play made it 93-90. Ogwumike’s 3-pointer tied it 93. Astier made both free throws to go up 95-93. Burrell missed a go-ahead 3-pointer with less than a minute to go. However, the Sparks forced a shot clock violation and got the ball back with 33.3 seconds left in regulation. Plum’s potential go-ahead 3-pointer rimmed out with less than 30 seconds remaining.
Stewart was fouled and made 1 of 2 free throws to go up 96-93 with 26.7 to go. Wheeler’s potential game-tying 3-pointer was blocked by Astier. However, Burrell was fouled and made both free throws and cut it to 96-95 with 10.3 seconds to go.
The Sparks challenged an out-of-bounds call, but it was not reversed in their favor with 10 seconds to go. Stewart missed the first but made the second of two free throws to go up 97-95 with nine seconds to go.
Meanwhile, the Liberty began the game with a starting lineup in which four of the five players were taller than the entire Sparks active roster. Sabally, Stewart, Jones, and Fiebich are all at least 6-foot-4. They used that length to slow down the Sparks’ pace-and-space offense.
“You have to do the job on (Kelsey) Plum,” Liberty first-year coach Chris Demarco said, “and then offensively we have to use our size to get offensive rebounds to create opportunities at the free throw line to take care of mismatches.”
Meanwhile, Kiana Williams, the Sparks’ newly signed backup point guard, checked in early, with 4:36 left in the first quarter.
Rookie forward Laura Ziegler, who is currently on a developmental contract, checked in for the first time in her professional career, with 1:16 left in the first.
Johannes drained a 3-pointer before the buzzer, which put the road team up 28-18 heading into the second quarter.
Atkins’ bounce pass to Hamby, which she finished with a layup, cut the Liberty’s lead to 36-32 with 5:45 left in the second.
However, the Liberty regained control and led 55-43 at halftime. Sabally had 11 points. Johannes had 10 points. Plum scored nine points in the first half.
WNBA’s 30th anniversary celebration
“I love where the game is,” Sparks all-time leading scorer Lisa Leslie said. “I love that we’re seeing the game played at a faster pace.”
“But if you want to win the game, you can’t just hang your hat on the offensive side,” Sparks legend DeLisha Milton-Jones added. “You have to bring something defensively, and I think creative adjustments could be made to be able to stymie whatever it is that your opponents are trying to bring offensively.”
Los Angeles Sparks legends DeLisha Milton Jones, Lisa Leslie and Tamecka Dixon’s press conference before the Sparks host the New York Liberty to celebrate the WNBA’s 30th anniversary on June 21, 2026. The first game was played on June 21, 1997.#wnba #lasparks #basketball pic.twitter.com/q6taFn7DZF
— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) June 22, 2026
Up next
The Sparks will be off for several days before beginning a two-game road trip at Toronto on Thursday, June 25, and at Indiana on Saturday, June 27.