Sparks fall to Wings for franchise-worst 8th straight loss

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Sparks’ struggles have reached a new low point.

Arike Ogunbowale scored 12 of her 25 points in the third quarter as Dallas pulled away for a 98-84 win on Saturday night, handing the Sparks their franchise-record eighth consecutive loss.

The Sparks (7-15) have not won since back-to-back victories over the Wings on June 23 and 25 at Crypto.com Arena and are now 2-9 on the road. The 2015 Sparks lost their first seven games, and 12 of their first 14, before eventually qualifying for the playoffs.

Dearica Hamby led the Sparks with 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting and Jordin Canada added 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting to go with seven assists and five rebounds on Saturday. All-Star Nneka Ogwumike also had 16 points on 7-for-15 shooting, Lexie Brown had 14 points (3 for 7 from 3-point range) and Azurá Stevens scored 12, but the Sparks were outrebounded 38-24.

Satou Sabally had 26 points on 10-for-16 shooting to go with 11 rebounds and six assists for Dallas, while Natasha Howard had 28 points (12-for-20 shooting) and 11 rebounds. She also had four steals for the Wings (13-9), who have won five in a row and seven of their last eight games.

The Wings shot a season-high 53.9% (41 of 76) from the field and scored 26 points off 12 Sparks turnovers.

The Sparks took a 57-56 lead when Ogwumike hit a wide-open 3-pointer almost three minutes into the third quarter but Ogunbowale answered with a step-back 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to spark a 12-3 run that gave Dallas the lead for good.

Ogunbowale assisted on a jumper by Howard and then scored three consecutive baskets to cap the spurt and make it 67-59 with 4:01 left in the third.

Sabally had 20 points in the first half and Howard had 16 for the Wings, who led 52-48 at the break.