SEATTLE -- The Sparks (14-25) have one more to go before going on their two-and-a-half-week FIBA World Cup break. They will take on the Storm (8-31) in Seattle for a little Sunday matinee action.
The last time these two teams faced each other? It was an embarrassing effort at home. They just had an eight-day break and they scored the second least points of the season at 64.
The Sparks did, however, beat them in their first encounter this season in June. So they have the rubber match on Sunday.
The team made a lot of moves this weekend as they claimed Aaliyah Nye off waivers, signed Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda to a developmental deal, and let go of Kate Martin and Alissa Pili (developmental deal). Neither Nye nor Mwenentanda will be available on Sunday so they'll have 11 available for the game. For Seattle, Awa Fam, who represents Spain, has already left for the World Cup. Natisha Hiedeman will also be out due to a shoulder injury.
These two teams are out of the running for the playoffs. But it's about pride and a strong finish to the season.
To get to that strong finish? The Sparks need to get off to better starts. That has been their weakness in most of their losses and it was no exception in their last match-up against the Storm. The Storm got off to a 15-6 start, with Flau'jae Johnson doing most of the damage, and that set the tone for the rest of the way.
Still, Sparks coach Lynne Roberts has echoed this message the last few weeks.
"We have not packed it in," Roberts said after their win against the Mystics on Friday. "We've had some great wins. We've had some tough losses but I have not seen them quit."
And Nneka Ogwumike is down to her last five games of her career.
"I want to empower a lot of these younger players in the same way that I was empowered, coming up and understand that we're not just here to just play games and move on," Ogwumike said about leaving an imprint in her final games. "I came into this league and I came into this team understanding the legacy and the history of this organization. And I don't want that to get lost. I really don't want that to get lost. And that's even across the W. So I do my best to maybe leave a lasting mark of what I know. And sometimes, what I know are people and experiences that they may not have even understood even happened that led to them being here or that even just led to us being here together."
Younger players like Johnson, Dominique Malonga, Zia Cooke for Seattle and Cameron Brink, Chance Gray, and Rae Burrell for L.A. are players that Ogwumike never thought would play against/with. As her 15-year career winds down, Ogwumike hopes to make the best of it.
Making the best of it includes a Sparks win over the Storm this Sunday afternoon.