Lynx honour Augustus but fall to Sparks in final seconds

Nneka Ogwumike's putback of her own miss with 7.3 seconds left lifted the Los Angeles Sparks to an 85-83 win over the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday.

Rachel Banham's jumper with 26.6 seconds to go pulled Minnesota even for just the second time. The game was also tied at 65 after the Lynx erased a 17-point first-half deficit.

Ogwumike finished with 16 points. Chennedy Carter led the Sparks (4-6), who had lost six of seven, with 20 points. Liz Cambage added 15 points and Katie Lou Samuelson 13.

With Ogwumike and Cambage both making 6 of 10 shots, the Sparks shot 52 per cent.

The Lynx (2-7), who retired Seimone Augustus' No. 33 jersey before the game, were led by Kayla McBride with 19 points but her last-second jumped went off the rim.

Chatham, Ont., native Bridget Carleton added five points and two assists while also collecting four rebounds for Minnesota.

Augustus was a key player on Minnesota's four WNBA championship teams. The No. 1 overall pick out of LSU in the 2006 draft played 14 seasons with the Lynx before spending one year with Los Angeles, where she is now an assistant coach. She retired as the No. 10 scorer in league history with 6,005 points.

Loyd powers Storm past Liberty

Jewell Loyd scored 22 points, Jantel Lavender had a double-double and the Seattle Storm routed New York 92-61 on Sunday in Seattle, the seventh-straight loss for the Liberty.

Breanna Stewart had 14 points, eight rebounds, six steals and five assists for Seattle, which beat the Liberty for the second time in three days despite having three players miss both games in protocol, including Sue Bird.

Lavender had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Briann January also had 12 points and Kaela Davis, in her first game with the Storm (5-3) had 11 points.

Seattle outscored New York 26-8 in the second quarter to lead 49-23 at the half.

The worst shooting team in the league at 39.1 per cent, the Storm went 13-of-24 from three-point range and shot 49.3 per cent overall. The starters were 28-of-49.

Han Xu led the Liberty (1-7) with 13 points and Natasha Howard added 10. New York shot 33.8 per cent and had 17 turnovers.

Dream blow out Mercury

Kristy Wallace had 17 points to lead five Atlanta players scoring in double figures and the Dream beat the visiting Phoenix Mercury 82-54 on Sunday in Atlanta.

The 28-point margin of victory was Atlanta's largest since beating the Los Angeles Sparks by 30 in 2015.

Erica Wheeler scored 16 points, Cheyenne Parker had 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Rhyne Howard had 12 points with six assists for Atlanta (5-3). Aari McDonald finished with 10 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals.

The Dream never trailed, took at 12-point lead at the end of the first quarter and limited Phoenix (2-6) to just eight points in the second to take a 50-23 lead into halftime.

Diamond DeShields, the only Mercury player to score in double figures, finished with 23 points. Skylar Diggins-Smith (19.2 points per game) and Diana Taurasi (16.0) — the team's top scorers — combined for nine points on 3-of-17 shooting.

Phoenix has lost five consecutive games. The club has been missing star players Brittney Griner, who has been detained in Russia since February on drug charges, and Canadian Kia Nurse, out with a long-term knee injury sustained last season.