Skylar Diggins-Smith scored 26 points, and Gabby Williams added 13 of her 17 points in the second quarter as the Seattle Storm defeated the Los Angeles Sparks 90-82 on Wednesday night.
Seattle (22-14) remains just one game behind Las Vegas (23-13) for fourth place in the WNBA standings. The Storm will play against Dallas on Friday and then face the Sparks again at home on Sunday. Los Angeles (7-30) has a break until Sunday.
Seattle was behind 39-29 with 3:40 left in the first half but finished strong with an 11-2 run, including five points from Williams, to tie the game 41-41 by halftime. Williams scored 15 points in the first half, while Nneka Ogwumike contributed 10 points.
Seattle’s lead was cut to 75-74 with 4:19 remaining after a basket by Rae Burrell, but the Sparks did not score again until Rickea Jackson’s layup with 27.1 seconds left.
Williams then hit two free throws with 25.6 seconds remaining to push Seattle’s lead back to eight points.
Ogwumike added 16 points and eight rebounds for Seattle. She also moved up to 11th place on the WNBA’s all-time scoring list, surpassing Sylvia Fowles (6,415). Ezi Magbegor set a franchise record for blocks in a season, beating Lauren Jackson’s record of 81 from 2002.
Rickea Jackson led Los Angeles with 22 points, and Azura Stevens had 18 points and 15 rebounds. Dearica Hamby, who had six points and eight rebounds, set a franchise record for most rebounds in a single season, surpassing Lisa Leslie (336).
