LOS ANGELES — Kelsey Plum sized up her opponent and made a buzzer-beating layup, capping a wild fourth quarter and lifting the Sparks to an 81-80 win against Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings on Wednesday night at Crypto.com Arena.

Bueckers, the top overall selection in April’s WNBA draft, finished with 44 points – the highest-scoring game ever by a WNBA rookie.

The Sparks led by seven points at halftime before Dallas grabbed a 66-59 lead heading into the fourth quarter, but the hosts overcame Bueckers’ monster night to improve to 17-18 overall and remain one game behind in the race for the league’s eighth and final playoff spot with nine games left in the regular season.

Rickea Jackson scored a team-high 25 points to lead the Sparks, who have alternated wins and losses for the past s

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