Aliyah Boston makes a key steal late to help Fever beat the Sparks 76-75, move into 6th place

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Aliyah Boston had 22 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and a career-high six steals to help the Indiana Fever beat the Los Angeles Sparks 76-75 on Friday night.

Odyssey Sims added 21 points against her former team, including scoring Indiana’s final five points. Boston made a key steal with 1.9 seconds left to seal the win.

Indiana (21-18) moved a half-game ahead of Seattle (21-19) for sixth place in the WNBA standings with five games to play. Los Angeles (17-20) fell two games behind Golden State for the final playoff spot.

Los Angeles forward Azura Stevens grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled on a putback attempt with 31.6 seconds left. She made 1 of 2 free throws to give Los Angeles a 75-74 lead.

Indiana secured an offensive rebound on its next possession and Sims made a floater in the lane to retake the lead with 13.6 left.

After a timeout, Los Angeles guard Rickea Jackson was trapped at the free-throw line before finding Kelsey Plum, who lost control of it and threw it to Boston for Los Angeles’ 22nd turnover. Kelsey Mitchell missed two free throws with 0.4 seconds left and Los Angeles did not get a shot off before the buzzer.

Mitchell, averaging 20.7 points per game, finished with 12 points for Indiana. Caitlin Clark (right groin) did not play. Boston became the second player in franchise history to record at least 15 points, 10 rebounds and five steals in a single game.

Stevens scored 17 points for Los Angeles, which had won the previous three meetings in the season series. Plum and Rae Burrell each added 12 points.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball