Natasha Howard, Satou Sabally lead Wings past Sparks

Natasha Howard produced a 28-point, 11-rebound double double and Satou Sabally added 26 points and 11 rebounds as the Dallas Wings ran past the visiting Los Angeles Sparks 98-84 on Saturday in a Western Conference game in Arlington, Texas.

The Wings (13-9) trailed by a point early in the third quarter before taking charge for good with a 9-0 run and were up by 10 heading into the final period.

Los Angeles got to within 85-77 on Dearica Hamby's floating jump shot with 4:18 to play but could not get any closer. Baskets by Howard, Crystal Dangerfield and Arike Ogunbowale pushed the Dallas advantage to 16 points and allowed the Wings to cruise to the finish.

Ogunbowale hit for 25 points for Dallas, which won its fifth straight game.

Hamby led the Sparks (7-15) with 18 points. Nneka Ogwumike and Jordin Canada scored 16 each, Lexie Brown had 14 and Azura Stevens hit for 12 for Los Angeles. The Wings have dropped eight straight games.

The Wings led by as many as six points on three occasions in the first quarter before a 5-0 surge capped by a 3-pointer by Canada at the 1:34 mark pushed Los Angeles to a 25-24 advantage. Another basket from beyond the arc at the buzzer granted the Sparks a 30-26 lead at period's end.

Dallas swept back to the lead with an 10-2 run over the first 2:46 of the second quarter as Howard and Teaira McCowan scored four points each in the spurt. Howard's layup at the 3:40 staked the Wings to their biggest advantage of the half before Los Angeles fought back to within 52-48 at the break.

Sabally had a season-best 20 points in the first half to lead all scorers while Howard added 16 points and six rebounds for Dallas before halftime. Hamby scored 13 points off the bench to pace the Sparks, with Canada and Ogwumike hitting for 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Los Angeles surged back in front at 57-56 with 7:10 to play in the third quarter with a 7-0 run before the Wings answered by scoring the ensuing nine points and taking an eight-point edge. Sabally's only points of the third quarter came on a last-second layup that produced a 77-67 lead for Dallas heading into the final period.