LOS ANGELES — Indiana Fever veterans Candice Dupree and Cappie Pondexter each scored 16 points Friday while leading the last-place Indiana Fever to a 78-76 upset victory over the Los Angeles Sparks.

Pondexter, waived by the Sparks on June 28 and signed by the Fever July 1, shot 6-of-16 from the floor and added a season-high five assists while helping Indiana snap a five-game losing skid. Dupree finished 7-of-14 from the floor and added six rebounds as the pair of 13-year veterans helped guide the young Indiana roster to just its third win of the season. Indiana center Natalie Achonwa added 15 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

Indiana sent Los Angeles, playing without center Nneka Ogwumike (illness) and guard Alana Beard (injury) to its fifth loss in the past seven games, and its fourth straight defeat on its home floor. Indiana, 3-21, won at STAPLES Center for just the fourth time in club history as the Sparks, 14-10, fell to fifth place in the WNBA standings.

Among Indiana’s three wins are road wins against the WNBA’s two finalists from each of the past three seasons – at Minnesota (July 3) and at L.A.

Trailing by 12 after three quarters, the Sparks steadily chipped away at the Indiana lead, drawing within four points, 70-66, as the clock wound under five minutes. Dupree, Pondexter and Achonwa led the fourth-quarter resistance, staving off each Sparks challenge and withstanding a 10-point, five-rebound fourth-quarter effort from L.A. forward Candace Parker, who finished with game highs of 24 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists.

Jantel Lavender, starting in place of Ogwumike, added 23 points for Los Angeles. Indiana rookies Victoria Vivians and Kelsey Mitchell added 11 and 9 points, respectively.

It was Indiana’s first victory by a close margin, after beating Minnesota by 12 and Atlanta by 32. But it nearly didn’t happen as the Sparks narrowly missed sending the game to overtime after a last-second scramble.

Chelsea Gray’s jumper brought the Sparks within 77-74 with 27 seconds to play and Indiana point guard Erica Wheeler pushed the lead back to four by making the back end of two free throws. After a Sparks timeout, Gray sprinted past Indiana defenders for a running layin with 15.8 seconds remaining, giving Indiana the ball near midcourt.

The Fever, though, hoping to move the ball and kill the clock, had a pass tipped near midcourt. In the scramble that ensued, Gray emerged with the ball between Fever guards Wheeler and Vivians and found Essence Carson for a baseline jumper that caromed off the rim. Parker grabbed the miss and put up a two-footer that rolled off the iron as time expired.

“We tried to run the clock by keeping the ball moving,” said Dupree. “Maybe we should have just held the ball and gone to the free throw line.”

“When you struggle the way we have,” said Fever coach Pokey Chatman, “it’s nice to get any win, no matter whether we closed it our pretty, or not. It told the players we must be all prayed-up with God’s glory because we sure got lucky on that last possession.”

The Sparks took a 40-37 lead into intermission, but not before Indiana erased an early nine-point deficit and used a 14-5 run to capture a 29-28 lead with under 5:00 left in the half. Trailing by eight after one period, Indiana opened the second quarter on a 10-3 spurt that opened with a 3-pointer by Tiffany Mitchell and closed with another by Kelsey Mitchell. Buckets by Achonwa and Tiffany Mitchell staked the Fever to their first lead since the game’s first basket by Achonwa.

Kelsey Mitchell’s 3-point field goal at the 6:02 mark in the second period pushed the Indiana rookie duo of Mitchell and Victoria Vivians into second place in WNBA history with 94 combined 3-pointers through 24 games.

But the rookies weren’t the Fever’s only sharpshooters as Indiana shot 45 percent from the field through three quarters and five different players combined for 9-of-18 shooting beyond the arc through three periods. Indiana began the third quarter much like it did the second and poured in 29 points while commanding a 66-54 lead headed to the fourth.

Wheeler’s 3-pointer game the Fever a 42-41 advantage with a minute gone in the second half, sparking a 19-4 outburst to give the upset-minded Fever a 13-point bulge and confidence. Odyssey Sims’ desperation 3-pointer brought the Sparks within 10, but Kelsey Mitchell matched her 3 and a running layup by Dupree posted Indiana to its largest lead at 63-48. The Sparks closed within nine before Kelsey Mitchell ended the third with her third 3-pointer of the contest, beating the clock from near the midcourt logo.

In the fourth, though, Indiana missed on five 3-point attempts and the Sparks shot 11-of-23 from the floor to stage their rally.

Through three periods, Indiana was on the attack.

“Our pace kept us in the lead,” added Chatman. “We were getting buckets in transition and we wanted to move their bigs around. We had some success.”

Addressing the fourth quarter, she continued, “We went away from attacking, but I have to give [Sparks coach] Brian [Agler] credit for that. I’m sure some of their adjustments affected that. If we were a little more experienced, maybe we don’t give the lead away so quickly. It’s still good to find a way to win, even when you don’t always play your best.”

Indiana continues a stretch of seven games in 14 days when the Fever visit Las Vegas on Sunday.

Highlights