Guru’s WNBA Report: Loyd’s Buzzer-Beater Carries Seattle Over Los Angeles 90-89 While Washington Upsets Chicago and Minnesota Rallies Over Dallas

 

By Mel Greenberg. @womhoopsguru

 

In the tight race among the top three WNBA teams coming down the stretch of the coronavirus-caused shortened 22-game regular season, Friday night’s showdown lived up to the hype between the Seattle Storm who started with a one-game lead over its opponent Los Angeles Sparks and the Las Vegas Aces but ended up leaving the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., near Tampa/St. Petersburg with a bit more comfort courtesy of Jewell Loyd’s buzzer-beating three-ball from the left corner off a feed from veteran Sue Bird for a 90-89 victory over Los Angeles.

 

The triumph moves Seattle to 15-3 with four games remaining, 1.5 games ahead of Vegas (13-4), which plays the Atlanta Dream Saturday at 6 p.m. on Facebook, and two in front of Los Angeles (13-5) and Minnesota (13-5), which earlier Friday rallied to beat the Dallas Wing 88-76. 

 

Los Angeles led the first half before Seattle narrowed it more in the second and grabbing the lead at the finish.

 

Loyd’s shot matched the Sparks’ Candace Parker for game honors with 25 points, while Seattle’s Breanna Stewart scored 20 with eight rebounds and nine assists, Natasha Howard had 13 points, and Bird finished with 10 points and seven assists.

 

Parker also had seven rebounds and six assists for Los Angeles, which was again without Nneka Ogwumike, the Stanford grad and player union president who has now missed several games with back problems.

 

Chelsea Gray scored 18 points, Brittney Sykes scored 17, and Riquana Williams scored 10.

 

The top two teams get a double bye to the best-of-five semifinals, the third and fourth teams get a one-game bye to the second round facing the winners of the openers between the 5-8 and 6-7 seeds.

 

 At the other end of the standings the Connecticut Sun doesn’t even play until Saturday’s must-win game with the Indiana Fever at 4 p.m. to make things easier but for a while was having the worst night until after the defending champion Washington Mystics upset the Chicago Sky, 79-69, Minnesota helped the Connecticut cause by rallying and beating Dallas 88-75.

 

The win gave the Lynx (13-5) a 2.5 games lead on Chicago (11-8) for fourth and a first-round bye and also a tie with Los Angeles in third right behind Las Vegas.

 

Of Connecticut’s four remaining games, two are back-to-backs Monday, the makeup of the recent postponements over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis., and Wednesday before finishing up next weekend against the Atlanta Dream (5-13), which at this hour is still in the playoff race but on the edge.

 

The Sun can clinch a berth on Saturday.

 

Likewise, Washington (5-12), is also still in the hunt with a better chance by math than reality to bypass Dallas.

 

The Mystics play Dallas Sunday at 4 on twitter, Minnesota on Tuesday, Los Angeles on Thursday, and New York next Saturday.

 

In the Washington-Chicago game,  Leilani Mitchell had 20 points and 12 assists, Myisha Hines-Allen had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Emma Meesseman had 15 points, and Ariel Atkins scored 13.

 

Rookie Stella Johnson out of Rider continues to be sidelined with an ankle injury.

 

Cheyenne Parker had 17 points for Chicago, Courtney Vandersloot had 16 points and dealt 11 assists, Allie Quigley scored 12, and Rutgers grad Kahleah Copper grabbed 10 rebounds.

 

In Minnesota’s win, Damiras Dantas had 18 points and 13 rebounds, Odyssey Sims scored 16, Napheesa Collier had 14 points and 14 rebounds, while rookie Crystal Dangerfield scored 15, and Bridget Carlegton and Rachel Banham each scored 11 for the Lynx.

 

Allisha Gray poured down a career-high 26 points for Dallas, Arike Ogunbowale had 14, and Katie Lou Samuelson scored 11.

 

Ogunbowale became the third fastest player to reach 1,000 WNBA career points, doing it in 51 games behind former Houston Comets star Cynthia Cooper-Dyke (45), and Los Angeles’ Seimone Augustus (46).

 

Saturday’s other game has the Phoenix Mercury and New York Liberty playing at 8 on twitter.

 

After Saturday, Indiana finishes with Las Vegas on Tuesday, New York on Thursday, and Minnesota on next Saturday.

 

Dallas plays Washington Sunday, Seattle Wednesday, Chicago Friday and New York, in one of the remaining makeup games next Sunday.

 

And that’s the report.