Sparks fall to Sue Bird and the Seattle Storm, 79-72

Sue Bird hit a season-high five three-pointers and scored 15 points to lead the Seattle Storm to a surprising 79-72 victory over the WNBA-leading Sparks on Friday night.

Coming off her record seventh gold medal in international competition at the Olympics, Bird was 5 of 7 from behind the arc. She also had six assists, Olympic teammate Breanna Stewart made just 2 of 13 and scored five points, though she did have 11 rebounds.

Crystal Langhorn had 16 points and 10 rebounds for Seattle, and Jewell Loyd had 15 to help the Storm (10-15) match last season’s victory total.

Bird, who has four Olympic and three world championship gold medals, opened the game with a 3 and Seattle never trailed. The Storm led 22-13 after one quarter, but the Sparks cut it to 31-28 at the half before Seattle surged ahead again.

Nneka Ogwumike had 28 points for Los Angeles (21-4), 15 in the fourth quarter.