SEATTLE — For more than a decade, the Sparks reveled in Nneka Ogwumike torching an opponent.
Not this time.
Ogwumike scored a season-high 26 points against her former team, Jewell Loyd added 21 points and the Seattle Storm pulled away to beat the Sparks, 95-79, on Tuesday night.
The Storm led 74-69 with 4:08 left then scored on four straight possessions down the stretch to seal it. Skylar Diggins-Smith drove into the lane and passed it out to Ogwumike for a corner 3-pointer to make it 79-70. Diggins-Smith added a 3-pointer on Seattle’s next possession for a 12-point lead, then Ogwumike capped the 8-0 run. The Storm outscored the Sparks 29-18 in the fourth quarter.
Ogwumike, who spent the first 12 years of her WNBA career with the Sparks before leaving as a free agent in the winter, has helped Seattle (8-4) win seven of its past eight games, with the lone loss coming against Minnesota on Sunday.
Diggins-Smith finished with 19 points, five rebounds and six assists for Seattle. Sami Whitcomb made three 3-pointers to finish with nine points. Ezi Magbegor grabbed 13 boards to help the Storm outrebound the Sparks 45-33.
Li Yueru scored a career-high 18 points to go with seven rebounds for the Sparks (4-8), who were kicking off a seven-game road trip. Dearica Hamby had another double-double (16 points, 11 rebounds) to go with five assists, and Aari McDonald added 15 points off the bench.
Hamby shot 7 for 16 from the field, but the Sparks shot just 39.1% overall (27 for 69) with rookies Rickea Jackson (1 for 8) and Cameron Brink (2 for 7) and veteran guard Lexie Brown (2 for 9) all struggling through a rough night.
Ogwumike has long been synonymous with the Sparks, the team that selected her No. 1 overall in the 2012 WNBA Draft. The eight-time All-Star helped the Sparks win a WNBA title and was named the league MVP in 2016.
“It’s great to have (her) on our side,” Storm coach Noelle Quinn, a former UCLA and Bishop Montgomery High standout, told the Seattle…
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