NEW YORK (AP) – For the second consecutive WNBA Finals game, the league acknowledged a late officiating mistake.
The WNBA said the officials missed a shot clock violation in the deciding Game 5 Thursday night in which the Los Angeles Sparks beat the Minnesota Lynx 77-76.
“After reviewing postgame video, we have determined that Nneka Ogwumike’s shot with 1:14 remaining in regulation time should not have counted due to a shot-clock violation, and that the referees improperly failed to review the play under the instant replay rules,” Renee Brown, WNBA chief of basketball operations and player relations, said in a statement Friday.
Ogwumike’s jumper with 3.1 seconds left, off the rebound of her blocked shot, won it for the Sparks.
The league also admitted a mistake after officials missed an 8-second violation call in Game 4 that occurred late in that contest.