LOS ANGELES — On a night when both teams shot the lights out, the Sparks couldn’t complete a late rally in a 113-109 loss to the New York Liberty on Tuesday night.
Rae Burrell tied her career-high with 24 points and Nneka Ogwumike had 21 points and matched her career-best with nine assists, but the Sparks squandered a nine-point lead in the second half. They then trimmed an 11-point deficit to three in the final minute before coming up short on a night when the teams combined to make 33 3-point shots and dish out 62 assists at Crypto.com Arena.
“Nobody in this league is ever comfortable with losing,” Burrell said after the team lost its sixth consecutive game. “You shouldn’t be in the league. It’s a competitive league. It’s a competition every single night and we’re going to fight and sometimes it’s not the result that you want but it ain’t ever easy to not win. We’re competitors.”
The Sparks, who shot 60% from the field and finished with 35 assists on their 44 made baskets, had six players score in double figures, including Erica Wheeler (17), Ariel Atkins (16), Dearica Hamby (12) and Cameron Brink (11).
“I think we’re close,” Ogwumike said. “I like how we’re competing. We don’t have moral victories, but there’s a lot of good to draw from the types of games that we’re playing as of late. I’m looking forward to seeing how we can turn those around.”
Wheeler, the team’s point guard, also had nine assists.
“The game was complete,” Wheeler said. “We just needed to get certain stops that we didn’t get and, like I said, they hit shots. But make no mistake, we’re not OK with it. Nobody is OK with it in that locker room, losing.”
The Sparks (10-17) are 11th in the WNBA standings, five games behind the final playoff spot with 17 games left in the regular season.
“We’re not where we wanted to be at this point,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said before the game. “There’s a lot of games left and so this is the time to dial it up a notch and not that we weren’t playing with urgency but now it’s another level.”
All-Star forward Breanna Stewart scored 19 of her 29 points in the second half and added seven assists to lead the Liberty (16-12), who shot 59% from the field. Guard Sabrina Ionescu scored 27 points. Stewart dished the last of her seven assists to Rebecca Allen, who knocked down a 3-pointer with 53 seconds left to effectively put the game away for the Liberty. Allen’s late basket capped a blistering 17-of-32 performance (53.1%) from 3-point range for New York, led by Ionescu’s 5-of-9 effort.
Rebekah Gardner, who made two 3-pointers off the bench, finished with 15 points. Reserves Han Xu and Mariane Fauthoux each made three 3-pointers en route to 13 points apiece for New York, which won its third straight.
“Between the two teams, we’ve been where the Sparks are,” Liberty first-year coach Chris DeMarco said before the game. “It’s important that even though we won our last two games, you still have that fight.”
The Sparks trailed 105-94 in the final minutes but scored seven straight during a 51-second span to get within 105-101 with 2:05 left on Atkins’ 3-pointer sandwiched in between Ogwumike’s layups.
The Sparks then took possession with an opportunity to make it a one-possession margin after Ionescu was called for traveling, but Stewart’s fourth steal of the night gave New York the ball right back.
Stewart then found Allen for her corner 3-pointer and a 108-101 lead with 53 seconds left. Wheeler’s midrange jumper cut it 108-103 with 47 seconds remaining. Fauthoux, a developmental contract player from France, made both free throws for a 110-103 lead.
The Sparks got within four again on an Ogwumike 3-pointer with 24 seconds to go. Gardner then made a pair of free throws for a 112-106 lead, but Ogwumike made another 3-pointer to cut the margin to 112-109.
Stewart made one of two free throws to go up 113-109 with 14 seconds left, then Ogwumike missed a 3-point attempt with eight seconds remaining. Brink’s desperation heave went wide left and sealed the defeat.
“We have to stay true to the process,” Ogwumike said.
“It’s frustrating to lose,” Roberts added. “It’s really frustrating to play well, shoot well, move the ball well and not get rewarded.”
The Sparks shot well from behind the arc in their own right. Ogwumike finished 3 for 5 from outside, Burrell was 4 for 8 and Wheeler shot 4 for 5 to pace a 16-of-31 (51.6%) showing from deep.
BRINK UNLEASHED
Playing against the Liberty’s lengthy lineup is no small task. That’s where the versatility of the 6-foot-4 Brink, with a 6-8 wingspan, comes into play.
“I want to play Cam a lot,” Roberts said at Tuesday’s morning shootaround practice. “Her versatility, her length, her defensive instincts. Her ability to shoot. Her ability to run in transition. I want to play her and now there’s no minutes restriction, she’s gotta be and she knows it, disciplined with her fouling so that she can play extended runs.”
The Sparks trailed 36-30 at the end of the first quarter, but Hamby’s steal and fast-break layup tied the score at 39-all early in the second quarter. The Sparks went on a 20-4 run midway through the second quarter, opening a lead that lasted through most of the third.
“I think we can build momentum,” Roberts continued. “We just have to be consistent and stack days.”
Roberts said ideally, she would like Brink, Hamby and Ogwumike to all play equal minutes, which would roughly equate to approximately 27 minutes.
“That was the original plan,” Roberts explained. “We’ve just had the injury bug again. But now all three are healthy, so that would be the goal. I think they’re all three most effective when they’re not playing 30-plus minutes.”
Wheeler’s consecutive 3-pointers made it 66-60 early in the third quarter, and Burrell’s layup, off a hustle-fuel assist by Ogwumike, made it 71-62. But the Liberty never trailed by more than nine, and they regained control when they went on a 23-8 run that spanned the third and fourth quarters. Stewart powered the pivotal spurt, which included a go-ahead layup for an 85-84 lead just before the third period ended.
“I just think moving forward, I think we’ll be sharper,” Wheeler said. “And being able to get that full rotation and not have it be so wide open but like coach and Rae said, we played a full game. It’s just that they made shots that we didn’t think they were going to make.”
The WNBA trade deadline is Sunday.
“Things have not shaken out how we wanted them to so we need to evaluate everything,” Roberts said when asked about possible changes. “I’ve been in contact and communication with the front office and I think from where we want to be, everything has to be evaluated.”
“Stay focused and use August as an opportunity,” Ogwumike said of the team’s 13-game slate next month.
The Sparks played their 11th game without star guard Kelsey Plum, who is in the latter stages of recovering from a lower leg injury, according to Roberts.
“It’s by committee,” Roberts said. “Everybody just gotta be a little bit better.”
JERSEY RETIREMENT
Two-time WNBA champion DeLisha Milton-Jones had her No. 8 jersey retired at halftime of Tuesday’s game.
The 17-year veteran, who ranks fourth on the Sparks’ franchise lists for points, rebounds and steals, played 11 seasons with the team. Now 51, she retired in 2015.
“Some things are worth the wait, and this is definitely one of them,” Milton-Jones said. “The feelings that I have are all over the place but they’re settling into feeling something similar to when you go home and it’s a family reunion and you’re seeing a lot of people that you know and love and they love you back just the same.”
“Monumental,” she added. “Simply, monumental. It’s something that I’m so proud of.”
UP NEXT
The Sparks will have several days off before playing at the Portland Fire on Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
Lynne Roberts on the Los Angeles Sparks evaluating everything before the WNBA trade deadline on Sunday, August 2. pic.twitter.com/zZ1zlTxFJ6
— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) July 29, 2026
PREGAME: New York Liberty head coach Chris DeMarco on his team still learning how to close out wins in the WNBA, his take on the Jonquel Jones controversy, game execution, Leonie Fiebich and Satou Sabally injury updates and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton’s role on the Liberty. pic.twitter.com/AtIpT5gAi1
— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) July 29, 2026