Sparks vs. Storm: Nneka Ogwumike Drops Season-High 24 Points on Her Former Team in 88-83 Win

There's a specific kind of satisfaction in walking back into the building you just left and running the place for a night. Nneka Ogwumike got to feel it on Wednesday.

She scored a season-high 24 points against the team she played for over the past two seasons, grabbed nine rebounds to climb to fourth on the WNBA's career rebounding list, and carried the Los Angeles Sparks to an 88-83 win over the Seattle Storm at Climate Pledge Arena. Kelsey Plum added 19 points and 11 assists, Cameron Brink gave Los Angeles 15 off the bench, and Seattle lost its seventh straight.

Runs on Runs on Runs

If you enjoy momentum, this was your game. Seattle opened with the first seven points, and Los Angeles answered with the next 10. It was tied at 14 before an 8-0 Sparks run, and Los Angeles led 22-17 after one.

The Sparks stretched it to 34-25 in the second, and then Seattle ripped off 11 straight to take a 36-34 lead. It was 40-40 at the half. Los Angeles scored first out of the break to go up 42-40, and the Storm immediately went on another 11-0 run, this one good for a 51-42 lead with 7:09 left in the third. Seattle was getting offense from all five starters, moving the ball well and looking nothing like a team on a long losing streak.

Credit the Sparks for not blinking, even with a crowd of 9,309 getting a rare chance to enjoy itself. They clawed back to within 67-66 by the end of the quarter, setting up a fourth period that actually delivered.

The Turning Point: A Quiet Takeover, Then a Whistle That Went Away

Chance Gray's three free throws with 8:27 left gave Los Angeles a 72-70 lead, and the Sparks never gave it up. That doesn't mean they ever got comfortable.

Ogwumike was the difference in the stretch run, even if her fingerprints were more about timing than volume. She made two at the line to make it 79-73, then hit a 13-foot pull-up for 81-75 when Natisha Hiedeman had started heating up. Erica Wheeler buried a 25-foot 3 off an Ogwumike pass for 84-77, and Dearica Hamby finished a Plum feed for 86-79 with 1:44 to go.

Seattle kept coming. Dominique Malonga made two free throws and Jordan Horston hit a floater to make it 86-83 with 58.5 seconds left. Then the night's biggest swing came with 28.9 seconds to play, when Los Angeles got whistled for a foul on a Horston drive. A coach's review wiped it out and gave the Sparks the ball, turning a chance for Seattle at the line into a Los Angeles possession.

Plum misfired from long range, and the Storm called timeout at 12.1 with a real shot to tie. They didn't get the quick look they wanted, and Hiedeman's long 3 came off the rim. Two Los Angeles free throws with 1.6 seconds left ended it.

The Old Friend and Her Supporting Cast

Ogwumike went 9-of-18 from the field and 5-of-5 at the line, with four of her nine rebounds on the offensive end, no turnovers and no fouls in 33 minutes. Her plus-minus was a weird minus-7, because basketball is a strange sport. Passing Rebekkah Brunson put her fourth on the all-time rebounding list, and the Sparks say she's five points from moving past Tina Thompson into fourth place alone on the league's career scoring chart.

Plum shot just 6-of-17 and 2-of-9 from 3, and she still ran the show, with her eighth career double-double and a season-high four steals. Brink was the night's most efficient player, going 5-of-7 from the field in 18 minutes with six rebounds, two blocks and a career-high four offensive boards. She finished a team-best plus-10 despite carrying five fouls. Hamby only scored six, but she grabbed 10 rebounds and had multiple offensive boards for a sixth straight game, matching her career best. Ariel Atkins matched Plum with four steals, and Wheeler's 2-of-7 night from deep included the one 3 that mattered most. The Sparks list Plum second in the league in scoring at 24.8 a game, so a 19-point night on 17 shots qualifies as a mild off night, and it still came with 11 assists.

Seattle's starters did what they could. Hiedeman scored 16, Malonga had 15, Flau'jae Johnson put up 14 points, 12 rebounds and six assists, Awa Fam had 12 and Horston 11. The trouble was everywhere else, with the bench managing 15 total and the team committing 15 turnovers.

Stats That Matter

• 21-of-25 vs. 14-of-16: Free throws, a seven-point edge for Los Angeles in a five-point game.
• 13-5: Offensive rebounds for the Sparks, with Ogwumike and Brink grabbing four apiece. That's how you get 75 shots to Seattle's 64.
• 10 to 15: Total turnovers, with Los Angeles scoring 13 off Seattle's mistakes and giving up 11.
• 9-of-35: The Sparks from 3. They shot 39% overall and won on the road anyway, which is either grit or luck depending on your rooting interest.
• 22 to 15: Bench points in favor of Los Angeles, with Brink alone matching Seattle's entire reserve unit.

What It Means

Los Angeles is back to .500 at 6-6, and the Sparks are a surprising 4-1 on the road after their second straight win. They also improve to 2-2 in Commissioner's Cup play. Next is a trip to Phoenix on Saturday night.

Seattle is 3-11, 2-5 at home and 0-5 in the Cup, and the skid is at seven. Golden State visits on Friday night, and the Storm need to figure out how a team with five double-figure starters keeps ending up on the wrong side of these.

Taylor's Version

Going back to your old building and taking the night's best moments with you is a very specific flex, the basketball equivalent of re-recording the album and having it outperform the original. Ogwumike's numbers will go in the career ledger. Doing it on this floor is the part that makes the story.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press, the Los Angeles Sparks and wnba.com.