LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Sparks’ quest to make the WNBA Playoffs suffered a crushing blow on Friday following their 76-75 loss to the Indiana Fever. The loss dropped the Sparks to 17-20 and put them two games back of the eighth seed with only seven games remaining. Following the loss, Sparks forward Dearica Hamby wasn’t ready to close the door on the team’s season just yet.

“One game at a time. We got Sunday, Washington, we’re trying to split the season series with them,” Hamby said. “We can kind of still control our own destiny, five-and-two and make a shot at this. So turn the page and keep going.”

The five-and-two that Dearica Hamby was referencing is if the Sparks finish the regular season with five wins and two losses in their last seven games to end the year at .500, 22-22. If the Sparks can finish at .500, then they might have a good shot at making the playoffs as the eighth seed. They’re going to need help from the teams in front of them though.

Hamby’s response was echoed by Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts. Although the Fever loss put the Sparks in a precarious situation regarding the playoffs, the door hasn’t shut on them just yet.

“When you’re right there, things are really hard, and we’re right there. I’ve been saying it all season, we have a choice of how we respond,” Roberts said. “We’re not eliminated, and I refuse to buy into that. Does this make it harder? Yeah, but things are hard. This is hard. This league is so good. And you can see, the chunk of fifth through ninth, it’s a logjam.”

“But we’re not going to quit, I promise you that,” Roberts continued. “I trust these guys and they want to win, and they’re upset that we lost. We have a choice. We can emotionally, mentally check out and just kind of go through the motions, or we can dig down. And I know these guys are going to dig down.”

Of the Sparks’ last seven games, five of them are against teams over .500. The Sparks had started the second half of the season on a hot streak, winning nine of 11 games at one point. However, they have sort of stumbled back down to earth as they’ve gone 2-4 in their last six games.

Of the three teams that are realistically within reach for the Sparks in the standings, they’ve gone 3-1 against the Fever, 2-1 against the Storm and 1-3 against the Valkyries. They have one game remaining against the Storm on Monday during which the Sparks can clinch the season series.