{"id":394579,"date":"2026-07-11T08:34:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T08:34:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/394579\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T08:34:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T08:34:27","slug":"nneka-ogwumikes-double-double-lifts-sparks-to-victory-over-sky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/394579\/","title":{"rendered":"Nneka Ogwumike’s double-double lifts Sparks to victory over Sky"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In an alternate universe, the Sparks\u2019 win over Chicago<\/a> on Friday could have been a barometer to indicate whether general manager Raegan Pebley<\/a>\u2019s gamble to trade Rickea Jackson<\/a> to the Sky paid off.<\/p>\n

Jackson didn\u2019t get a chance for revenge after tearing an anterior cruciate ligament in May, making the Sparks\u2019 102-87 win<\/a> at Crypto.com Arena not a true litmus test. Veteran guard Ariel Atkins, who was shipped out of Chicago in the Jackson deal, had her best game with the Sparks, finishing with a season-high 17 points.<\/p>\n

The Sparks showcased their potential en route to their second straight win, even with All-Star Kelsey Plum (lower left leg) and Cameron Brink (left ankle) out. Nneka Ogwumike, the Sparks\u2019 other All-Star, posted 25 points and 12 rebounds, Dearica Hamby and Rae Burrell both scored 17, and Erica Wheeler had 15 points and eight assists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ball\u2019s got to move,\u201d Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said. \u201cIt can\u2019t be a lot of one on one. And that\u2019s what happens when you have 32 assists, the ball\u2019s moving. So it\u2019s just the continued emphasis of ball movement, player movement, getting those high-quality shots, and we\u2019ve got players that are going to make them for percentage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still a game under .500, the Sparks (10-11) have a long way to go to be considered serious postseason contenders. Chicago also has struggled mightily outside of a win against Phoenix this week and has been engulfed in drama around veteran guard Skylar Diggins, who sat out because of a knee injury.<\/p>\n

The Sparks easily could have spiraled following Monday\u2019s disaster in Seattle<\/a>. Instead, their season has life.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the game on Monday, I think there was just kind of like an \u2018enough\u2019 mentality, and we all felt it,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cWe all kind of just said, \u2018enough.\u2019 That doesn\u2019t mean that we\u2019re going to go undefeated the rest of the way, but we play like that. We give ourselves a chance in every game.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the second straight game, all five starters scored in double digits. Hamby had a late backhanded layup over 6-foot-7 Kamilla Cardoso to help close out the win.<\/p>\n

Brought in to be Plum\u2019s partner in the backcourt, Atkins has had an inconsistent offensive season, with career-low scoring and shooting numbers. Against her former squad, she showed why the Sparks wanted her, and why they need her to produce with Plum out of the lineup for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels good to see shots go in,\u201d Atkins said. \u201cMy biggest thing is that it feels good when we all feel good too. When they lead to wins, it makes it even better.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the Sparks opened up a 16-8 lead, Chicago (7-15) stormed back to keep it tight throughout the second quarter. The Sparks led 73-70 after three quarters before pulling away late. <\/p>\n

Ogwumike made three three-pointers in the fourth to carry the Sparks across the finish line.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust to have that poise, like we haven\u2019t shown that in a very long time,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cSo for us to display that tonight, like that should be the standard, and it felt good to have that poise.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sparks scored 25 points off 15 Sky turnovers. They shot 51% from the field.<\/p>\n

Ball movement has been emphasized all season, \u201cso it\u2019s good that we\u2019re starting to figure it out,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cWhen you look at the assists, it wasn\u2019t like one person had 16 or something, right? So it\u2019s balanced. The ball\u2019s moving. There\u2019s [the thought of] \u2018we need to get the win,\u2019 not \u2018I need to get the bucket.\u2019 And I think that\u2019s the mentality of great teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Veteran forward Emma Cannon played 12 minutes and scored nine points as a key post presence late when Cardoso was in foul trouble.<\/p>\n

Ogwumike moved into fifth on the Sparks\u2019 all-time assists list with her third helper in the first quarter, passing Mwadi Mabika.<\/p>\n

The Sparks are half a game outside the final playoff spot, not bad given how poor some of their performances have been. They head to Atlanta (13-9) to face a slumping Dream squad on Monday as they try to win three consecutive games for the third time this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took us a bit with KP out to figure out kind of how we can still flow,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cI think we\u2019ve figured it out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In an alternate universe, the Sparks\u2019 win over Chicago on Friday could have been a barometer to indicate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[6265,4419,158641,2424,152896,48,52,51,47,50,49,1024,133020,1417,278,7853,32053,86805,87217,8934,1543],"class_list":["post-394579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-assist","tag-chicago","tag-double-double-lift-spark","tag-friday","tag-good-game","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-monday","tag-nneka-ogwumike","tag-point","tag-season","tag-seattle","tag-sky","tag-spark","tag-sparks","tag-victory","tag-win"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}