Too little, too late for the Sparks
It was another close game and another opportunity lost.
Taj McWilliams-Franklin scored seven of her 14 points and Christi Thomas had six of her 14 points in the fourth quarter Thursday night, but the Sparks fell to the Washington Mystics, 80-75, in front of 8,510 at Staples Center.
“How can you expect us to feel right now?” Thomas said after the Sparks’ fourth consecutive defeat.
“We’re playing hard and we’re just coming up short. It’s tough, it’s frustrating, but we’re working on it.”
The Sparks (9-20) entered with an opportunity to pick up ground for the final playoff berth in the Western Conference because fourth-place Seattle (14-17), four games ahead of the sixth-place Sparks, lost to the Detroit Shock, 97-70, earlier Thursday night.
It was the second loss in a row for the Storm (14-17), but the Sparks, who have lost 18 of their last 22 games, have failed to capitalize and trail the Storm by four games with five left to play.
“We’re just trying to get a win so we can help ourselves out a little bit,” Thomas said.
“Seattle’s trying to give us a little help, and now we’ve just got to try to help ourselves, but it doesn’t look like we’re doing that right now.”
Led by Alana Beard’s 22 points and 12 each by former Sparks standout DeLisha Milton-Jones and Coco Miller, the Mystics seized control when the Sparks went scoreless for a stretch of 4 minutes 45 seconds midway through the fourth quarter.
The Sparks, who have lost six of eight games that have been decided by three points or fewer, cut a six-point deficit with 27.6 seconds to play to three on a three-point shot by McWilliams-Franklin.
After the Mystics made two free throws, McWilliams-Franklin again to pull the Sparks to within 78-75 with six seconds remaining, but were forced to foul after that. Milton-Jones secured the victory with two free throws with 5.2 seconds left.
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