Jackson’s Late Basket Leads Storm to Victory

Lauren Jackson scored 20 points, including the game-winning layup with 3.5 seconds left, as the Seattle Storm beat the Connecticut Sun, 67-65, on Thursday night at Uncasville, Conn.

Jackson’s three-pointer with 4:52 remaining tied the score at 54-54 and the Storm made eight of 10 free throws down the stretch.

T.J. McWilliams-Franklin led Connecticut with 19 points and 12 rebounds. She scored five in an 11-second span in the closing seconds to give Connecticut its final lead at 65-64.

A sellout crowd of 9,341 turned out to watch Sue Bird’s WNBA debut in Connecticut, where she played in college and helped lead the Huskies to two of four national titles. She received a standing ovation during introductions and scored 15 points.

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Sacramento 62, San Antonio 60 -- Lady Grooms made a jumper -- her only basket of the game -- as time expired to give the Monarchs the win before 8,383 at San Antonio.

The Monarchs trailed late until Kara Lawson tied the score with a jumper to set the stage for Grooms’ game-winner.

Yolanda Griffith led the Monarchs with 17 points, and Lawson and DeMya Walker added 10 points apiece.

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Cleveland 70, Minnesota 61 -- Penny Taylor scored 16 points to help end the Lynx’s three-game winning streak before 6,876 at Cleveland.

Katie Smith, who began the game leading the WNBA in scoring at 20.1 points, had 22 points for Minnesota.

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Washington 68, Charlotte 60 -- Chamique Holdsclaw scored 24 points and Stacey Dales-Schuman added 18 before 19,683 at Washington as the Mystics won their second consecutive game.