{"id":992325,"date":"2026-08-10T04:21:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T04:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/992325\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T04:21:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T04:21:16","slug":"furious-sparks-comeback-fades-in-final-minute-of-loss-to-golden-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/992325\/","title":{"rendered":"Furious Sparks comeback fades in final minute of loss to Golden State"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Coming off their best win of the season in Minnesota on Thursday, the Sparks<\/a> didn\u2019t have much of that same energy to start their first home game since the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

The fourth quarter, though, looked a lot like the best basketball they\u2019ve played all season.<\/p>\n

The Sparks came out flat and gave up 29 first-quarter points from the Golden State Valkyries in an 84-78 loss<\/a> Sunday, their eighth in the last 10 games. They made it a game in the fourth with a 16-5 run but were too far back and it took just a couple of Valkyries shots to put the game out of reach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think today was kind of more of a mind over matter type of day,\u201d Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike<\/a> said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to use the schedule as an excuse as pros, like I\u2019ve been doing this a long time. There\u2019s always a point in the season when the schedule gets like this, and so I think today was a bit more mind over matter, and it took us a little bit of time to kind of get into the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am happy that we didn\u2019t just acquiesce to the results of the first quarter. So, yeah, you really just kind of have to get that focus and lock in.\u201d<\/p>\n

An Ariel Atkins<\/a> three-pointer with 2:18 left got the Sparks within one point, then after it was matched by Golden State, a three from Erica Wheeler<\/a> made it a one-point contest again with 1:38 to go.<\/p>\n

Ogwumike missed what would have been a tying shot with 52 seconds left before the Valkyries made it a two-possession score to close it out.<\/p>\n

Wheeler missed two three-point attempts with less than 30 seconds left. She finished with 15 points while Ogwumike finished with a team-high 16 points.<\/p>\n

There are 13 games left in the season and the Sparks are six games back of Dallas for the eighth and final WNBA playoff seed, giving them an uphill climb to get back in the postseason conversation.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the Sparks (12-19) committed five early turnovers and struggled to defend the perimeter against the shot-happy Valkyries, trailing 29-15 after one quarter.<\/p>\n

After getting back within nine, the Sparks were down 45-32 at halftime following three consecutive buckets from Golden State guard Tiffany Hayes.<\/p>\n

\"Sparks <\/p>\n

Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike, right, reacts after being fouled by Golden State center Kiah Stokes in the first half Sunday.<\/p>\n

(Harry How \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Cameron Brink hit a three-pointer to get back within 12 with 7:27 left in the fourth. The Sparks outscored Golden State 31-20 overall in the fourth to get back within four with less than four minutes to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made adjustments to try to space the floor out a little bit more,\u201d Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said. \u201cI think we were on top of each other. I think we needed to start to play this higher. We did that, and we activated Nneka too, as well. I think in the beginning, she barely touched the ball, or the shots weren\u2019t going in. We got her shots, and once Nneka\u2019s going, and Dearica [Hamby]\u2019s going, the game is a little different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brink, who had seven points, seven rebounds and two steals, got into foul trouble in the third quarter, going into the fourth with four. Rae Burrell, who had scored in double figures in every game since July 22, didn\u2019t score until the fourth quarter and finished with nine points.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgainst Golden State, you\u2019re going to have a hard time attacking from the wings,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cYou got to do it from the middle. Their defense is really on point.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Valkyries capitalized with 18 points off the Sparks\u2019 11 turnovers.<\/p>\n

Kiana Williams scored 10 points, her most since she joined the team from Phoenix in June off of a developmental deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank goodness she was there in the first quarter, because I don\u2019t know how many we would have scored,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cBut I respect that she hasn\u2019t played in the last couple games, and she came in and was fearless and ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sparks have not beaten Golden State (23-9) since a 84-67 victory on May 16, 2025, the first game in Valkyries franchise history.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the Valkyries were led by 15 points from Cecilia Zandalasini, who shot five for five from three-point range.<\/p>\n

After she scored seven points against Minnesota, newly acquired guard Monique Akoa Makani missed Sunday\u2019s game with a right ankle injury she sustained in the final minute against the Lynx.<\/p>\n

The Sparks will host Phoenix (12-22) in Kelsey Plum<\/a>\u2019s return to L.A. on Tuesday at USC\u2019s Galen Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fought like hell out there,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cGolden State is a great team. They play great defense. So for us to be able to execute down the stretch in the fourth quarter … that\u2019s not easy to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coming off their best win of the season in Minnesota on Thursday, the Sparks didn\u2019t have much of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":992326,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[49],"tags":[161639,397838,397837,33353,397839,1910,28462,5948,3663,1589,5950,5612,4232,62,1404,67,132,68,2864,232],"class_list":["post-992325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-final-minute","tag-first-home-game","tag-first-quarter-point","tag-fourth-quarter","tag-furious-sparks-comeback","tag-game","tag-golden-state","tag-loss","tag-minnesota","tag-phoenix","tag-season","tag-spark","tag-sparks","tag-sports","tag-sunday","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-valkyries","tag-wnba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117069303617226382","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=992325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/992326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=992325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=992325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=992325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}