Sparks rally past Storm, tighten WNBA playoff race

Dearica Hamby scored 11 of her 27 points in the fourth quarter and Rickea Jackson added 23 points as the visiting Los Angeles Sparks used a dominating fourth quarter to rally for a 91-85 victory over the Seattle Storm on Monday.

Kelsey Plum contributed 14 points and seven assists, Rae Burrell had 11 points and Hamby added 11 rebounds for the Sparks, who outscored the Storm 23-12 in the fourth by shooting 57.1 percent from the floor.

The victory helped the ninth-place Sparks (19-20) inch within 1 1/2 games of the Indiana Fever (21-19) and the Storm (22-20), who are tied for the final two playoff spots.

Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins each scored 21 points for the Storm, who led by as many as 17 points in the game and were up by eight in the fourth quarter.

Ezi Magbegor scored 11 points for Seattle, which led 85-80 with 2:47 remaining after a putback by Diggins. A bank hook from Hamby with 2:33 remaining started the Sparks on an 11-0 run to close the game.

The Sparks shot 52.2 percent from the floor in the game and won despite going 4 of 18 (22.2 percent) from 3-point range.

The Storm shot 42.5 percent in the game but just 23.8 percent in the fourth quarter. Seattle was 13 of 32 (40.6 percent) from 3-point range but went 0 of 7 from deep in the fourth.

Seattle was 10 of 17 from beyond the arc while building a 14-point halftime advantage, and Diggins continued the team's long-range marksmanship to open the second-half scoring and give the Storm a 56-39 lead.

Los Angeles answered with 11 consecutive points -- six from Jackson -- to move within six with 6:19 left in the third.

Seattle later pushed the lead to 68-56 on a 3-pointer by Erica Wheeler with 1:55 left in the quarter.

The Storm led by eight after Owgumike converted a three-point play with 4.4 seconds remaining, but Jackson received the inbounds pass and dribbled up court and banked in a running 3-pointer at the buzzer to leave Los Angeles down 73-68 entering the final quarter.

The Sparks received back-to-back baskets from Hamby and Plum to move within 80-76 with 5:14 to play before Ogwumike answered with a three-point play with 4:42 to play.

--Field Level Media