Gray has 23 points and 9 assists, Sparks beat Mercury 80-72

Posted May 27, 2018 7:00 am

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Chelsea Gray had 23 points and nine assists and Nneka Ogwumike scored 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting to help the Los Angeles Sparks beat the Phoenix Mercury 80-72 on Sunday.

Odyssey Sims added 14 points, and Candace Parker had 10 in her season debut after missing the first three games with a back injury.

Gray made a layup to give the Sparks (3-1) a 57-47 lead with 6:29 left in the third quarter, but they missed their next eight field-goal attempts before Odyssey Sims hit a 3-pointer to make it 67-65 with 8:55 to play. L.A. led the rest of the way.

Sancho Lyttle hit a jumper to pull Phoenix within two points nearly 90 seconds later, but the Sparks answered with an 11-4 spurt - pushing their lead to 80-71 on Gray's fadeaway jumper in the lane with 1:46 left.

Phoenix (2-2) committed 10 of its 18 turnovers, and shot 3 of 9 from the field, while being outscored 18-7 in the fourth quarter.

Sancho Lyttle, who had 18 combined points in the first three games of the season, scored 20 for the Mercury.

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