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Sparks edged by Fever, damaging their playoff hopes – San Bernardino Sun

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Sparks guard Kelsey Plum tries to pass the ball as she falls out of bounds in front of the Indiana Fever’s Kelsey Mitchell during the second half on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, at Crypto.com Arena. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

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LOS ANGELES — The Sparks came into Friday night’s pivotal home game against the Indiana Fever with a must-win attitude.

Azurá Stevens, Kelsey Plum, Rae Burrell and Dearica Hamby responded by combining for 52 points, but former Sparks guard Odyssey Sims drained a go-ahead floater with less than 15 seconds left as Indiana handed the Sparks a 76-75 defeat at Crypto.com Arena.

“The game just comes down as I always say to chances,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said. “They had 15 offensive rebounds and we had 22 turnovers.”

Stevens finished with a team-high 17 points for the Sparks, who had the aforementioned 22 turnovers and were outrebounded 40-30. Plum and Burrell scored 12 points each, and Hamby scored 11.

A three-point play by Stevens gave the Sparks a 70-68 lead with 2:51 left. Hamby’s cutting layup gave the hosts a 72-69 lead, but a 3-pointer by Sims in front of her former team’s bench tied the score at 74-all with 50.8 seconds left.

Stevens was fouled with 31.6 seconds left but only made one of her two free throws.

“When you’re right there, things are really hard,” Roberts said. “And we’re right there.”

Indiana’s Aliyah Boston rebounded teammate Kelsey Mitchell’s 3-point miss, and Lexie Hull fed Sims cutting to the basket, where she made her floater for a 76-75 advantage with 13.6 seconds remaining.

“Odyssey had a great game and tip your hat to her,” Roberts added.

After a timeout, Sparks guard Rickea Jackson was trapped at the free-throw line before finding Plum, who lost control of the ball as Boston stole it with 1.9 seconds left. Mitchell missed a pair of free throws with 0.4 seconds left, but the Sparks did not have time to get off a shot before time expired.

The Sparks (17-20), who are trying to end a franchise-worst four-year playoff drought, are still in ninth place with seven games left. But they are now two games behind eighth-place Golden State (19-18), which also owns the head-to-head tiebreaker, and 2½ games behind seventh-place Seattle (21-19), though they do have three games in hand on the Storm. The top eight teams in the 13-team league make the postseason.

“One game at time,” Hamby said when asked about the team’s playoff outlook. “We’ve got Sunday (vs.) Washington … we can kinda still control our own destiny. We can go 5-2 and make a shot at this, so turn the page and keep going.”

Boston had 22 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high six steals to pace a balanced attack for sixth-place Indiana (21-18), which beat the Sparks for the first time in four meetings this season. Sims (21 points) and Mitchell (12 points) also scored in double figures.

“(Boston) is probably the most physical player in the league and I think, we talked about it a little bit, this is probably the only game that they allow it to kind of go back and forth without a ton of offensive fouls and calling fouls both ways so they did a good job,” Hamby shared. “Their game plan was probably to jam me and not let me get a lot of space, so they did a good job.”

Fever star Caitlin Clark, a fan favorite, has missed 17 consecutive games with a right groin injury and sat out all of the games against the Sparks this season.

“It is what it is,” Fever coach Stephanie White said before the game. “It’s part of it. We have had some matchup challenges with L.A. Their length has affected us in a lot of different ways.”

The Sparks began the game on a 7-0 run, with a layup by Plum, a 3-pointer by Jackson and a layup by Stevens and still led by the same margin, 31-24, heading into the second quarter. The Sparks shot 11 for 17 from the field (64.7%) in the first quarter, including a 5-for-8 showing from 3-point range.

“I’m always a believer that the other team could probably sit in our shootaround and watch everything. We still have to execute,” Roberts said before the game.

The Fever got within 37-36 with 4:36 left in the second quarter, but the Sparks kept their composure and led 47-44 at halftime. Plum had 12 points in the first half, as the Sparks shot 55.2%, including 43.8% from behind the arc.

Indiana took its first lead of the night at 50-49 on a reverse layup by forward Lexie Hull with 6:49 left in the third quarter. Consecutive layups by Sims and forward Natasha Howard extended the lead to 54-49 as part of a 10-2 Fever run to start the second half.

The Sparks clawed back and Burrell’s finger roll layup in the final seconds of the third quarter gave them a 58-57 lead heading into the final period, setting the stage for the dramatic finish.

FAMILIAR FACES EVERYWHERE

The Fever recently signed Sims and another former Spark, Shey Peddy, to seven-day hardship contracts to help replace injured ball handlers like former Sparks point guard Aari McDonald, guard Sydney Colson and guard/forward Sophie Cunningham.

“I think the most important thing for our players is that number one, they are on our team for a reason,” White said. “Number two, they don’t have anything to prove. We need them to be who they are. We need them to do what they have done to allow them to be successful and allow our team to be successful.”

UP NEXT

The Sparks will host Washington on Sunday at 5 p.m. at Crypto.com Arena. The Sparks are 2-1 against the Mystics this season.





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