Ogwumike sisters lead Sparks to 77-70 win over Sun

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chiney Ogwumike scored 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting and her sister Nneka Ogwumike had 19 points and 15 rebounds to help the Los Angeles Sparks beat the Connecticut Sun 77-70 on Friday night.

Derek Fisher, who was named coach of the Sparks in December, got his first WNBA win. The 18-year NBA veteran, who won five titles with the Los Angeles Lakers, went 40-96 as coach of the New York Knicks from 2014-2016.

Chiney Ogwumike was acquired by the Sparks from Connecticut on April 27 in exchange for a 2020 first-round pick.

Nneka Ogwumike’s 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds left in the second quarter capped a 13-4 run that gave the Sparks (1-1) a 38-31 halftime lead and Connecticut trailed the rest of the way.

Jonquel Jones hit a 3-pointer to pull the Sun (2-1) within one with 4:33 left in the fourth quarter and her 3-point play with 1:41 to go made it 69-67. Chiney Ogwumike answered with her own 3-point play and, after Jones hit 1 of 2 free throws, Nneka Ogwumike made a corner 3 to push the lead to 75-68 with 40.8 seconds remaining.

Jones had 16 points and a career-high tying 22 rebounds for Connecticut. Courtney Williams and Jasmine Thomas each added 14 points.

Thomas converted a 3-point play that trimmed the Sun’s deficit to 49-42 with 5:59 left in the third quarter and neither team scored again until Chiney Ogwumike made a layup with 48 seconds left in the period. The teams combined to miss 17 consecutive shots and commit six turnovers during that stretch.