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Parker scores 34 to lead Sparks in 99-78 win over Aces
LAS VEGAS (AP) Candace Parker scored a season-high 34 points and finished one assist shy of a triple double as the Los Angeles Sparks beat the Las Vegas Aces 99-78 on Sunday.
Parker- who also had 11 rebounds and nine assists - scored 13 during a 26-5 fourth-quarter run that gave the Sparks a 92-72 lead with 2:16 remaining.
Neither team led by more than six and there were 19 lead changes before Los Angeles (14-9) pulled away. Las Vegas had a 9-2 run to lead 63-62 late in the third quarter.
Chelsea Gray added 22 points, Nneka Ogwumike scored 15 and Essence Carson 11 for the Sparks.
Kayla McBride had 18 points and A'ja Wilson added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Aces (10-13).
MERCURY 101, FEVER 82
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Brittney Griner had a season-high 36 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to help Phoenix snap a three-game skid.
The Mercury (15-8) took the lead for good on the opening basket of the third quarter but didn't pull away until a 15-4 run made it 84-71 early in the fourth.
Diana Taurasi added 22 points for Phoenix.
Candice Dupree passed Becky Hammon (5,841) for ninth on the all-time WNBA scoring list with a jumper on the opening possession of the game. Dupree finished with 23 points and Cappie Pondexter had a season-high 17 for the Fever (2-20).
DREAM 80, MYSTICS 77
ATLANTA (AP) - Brittney Sykes scored 12 of her 17 points in the fourth quarter to help Atlanta beat Washington.
The Dream (12-9) led 74-64 on Sykes' free throws with 5:26 left before the Mystics (13-9) went on an 11-2 run to pull within one. Washington had a chance to go ahead in the final seconds after Monique Currie's defensive rebound with 13.9 seconds left, but Kristi Toliver missed an 18-foot jumper and Angel McCoughtry grabbed the rebound.
McCoughtry sank two free throws with 5.8 seconds left and Tiffany Hayes made two more with 3.0 seconds left to help Atlanta hold on.
Washington opened the game with a 16-2 lead, but Atlanta erased the deficit at 34-all before the end of the second quarter.
Elena Delle Donne had 23 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Mystics.
LIBERTY 107, SKY 84
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) - Tina Charles scored 21 points and Brittany Boyd added 14 points and 10 assists to lead New York.
The Liberty (7-14), who finished third last year, won consecutive games for only the second time this season. New York outscored Chicago 26-8 in the third quarter to blow open a tight game.
Boyd got her first start of the season and helped New York build a 53-47 halftime lead.
Leading 55-49 early in the third, the Liberty scored 10 straight and Chicago could never recover.
Courtney Vandersloot had 15 points and eight assists for Chicago (7-15), which has lost six of its past seven games.
SUN 83, LYNX 64
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Morgan Tuck had 15 points and Connecticut pulled even with Minnesota in the WNBA standings.
The Sun (12-10) scored 13 straight points to lead 75-48 and had their largest lead at 82-51 with 5:26 left in the fourth quarter.
The game went back-and-forth during the first quarter and then Connecticut pulled away in the second and led 44-33 at halftime. The Lynx (12-10) never got the deficit back into single digits after scoring the first points of the third quarter.
Sylvia Fowles led Minnesota with 12 points and eight rebounds.
The teams are tied for seventh in the playoff standings and would be the last two teams in as it currently stands.
