Sparks fall to Dream in a heartbreaker as losing streak stretches to six

Cheyenne Parker drove the baseline and made a go-ahead layup with 0.3 seconds left to lift the Atlanta Dream past the Sparks 88-86 on Friday night.

The Sparks called a timeout after Parker’s basket and Nneka Ogwumike sank a shot from the baseline, but officials reviewed the play and confirmed the ball was in Ogwumike’s hands when the buzzer sounded.

Rhyne Howard scored 28 points, reaching 20-plus points for the 10th time this season, for Atlanta (14-18). Parker finished with 15 points, and Aari McDonald and Maya Caldwell each scored 12.

Brittney Sykes scored 23 points and Ogwumike added 16 for the Sparks (12-20), who have lost six consecutive games. Ogwumike moved past Angel McCoughtry for 17th in WNBA history with 2,021 field goals.

Ogwumike tied it at 83 on a basket in traffic, but McDonald completed a three-point play at the other end to give Atlanta the lead. After misses by both teams, Sparks forward Katie Lou Samuelson got her defender in the air with a ball fake and sank a three-pointer to tie it at 86 with 3.2 left.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.