Sun making playoff seeding push with Sparks on the schedule

The Connecticut Sun are looking to keep up in the race for the No. 2 seed in the WNBA playoffs when they play the host Los Angeles Sparks on Sunday night.

Connecticut (24-10) has fallen to the No. 3 seed, a game behind the red-hot Minnesota Lynx (25-9), who have won nine of their last 10 games. The Sun are 6-4 during that same timeframe. They have six regular-season games remaining.

"Certainly, we want to have home-court advantage, and that two seed is important," Sun coach Stephanie White said after a 72-67 loss to Las Vegas on Friday. "Every time we step out on the floor, we are working towards playing our best basketball when the playoffs get here, but also maintaining seeding is important for us."

The Sun started the season 9-0 and made a trade during the All-Star/Olympics break for veteran guard Marina Mabrey. She is second on the Sun with 14.1 points per game. Forward DeWanna Bonner leads the Sun with 15.9.

"We want to start jelling and we want to get in the playoffs and start rolling," Mabrey said.

Connecticut is the top defensive team in the WNBA, allowing 74.3 points.

This is the first game of a four-game road trip for the Sun and the first of two games against the Sparks in three days.

Los Angeles (7-27) became the first WNBA team eliminated from playoff contention after a 92-78 loss to the Chicago Sky on Friday night. The Sparks season was derailed when rookie forward Cameron Brink, the No. 2 overall draft pick in April, tore her ACL in June.

The Sparks have lost 10 of their last 11 games, including their last three.

"We're just going to keep exploring," said Sparks coach Curt Miller about making any changes with his team knocked out. "Obviously, giving looks to people that give us the best chance to win, but you have to play people that continue to earn minutes."

The Sparks rank second to last in field-goal percentage (42.5) and rebounding average (32.1). The brightest spot has been the play of three-time WNBA All-Star forward Dearica Hamby, who leads the team with 17.6 points a game and is fourth in the WNBA in averaging 9.5 rebounds.

The Sun beat the Sparks twice earlier this season by nine and eight points, respectively.

--Field Level Media