Dearica Hamby scored 20 points, Rickea Jackson added 19 and the last-place Los Angeles Sparks closed the WNBA season with a 68-51 win over the playoff-bound Minnesota Lynx on Thursday night.

The Sparks (8-32) ended an eight-game losing streak and stopped Minnesota’s seven-game winning streak.

The second-seeded Lynx (30-10) are home against seventh-seeded Phoenix in the best-of-three opening round on Sunday afternoon.

Kia Nurse added 12 points for the Sparks.

The Lynx rested All-Star and Olympian Napheesa Collier, 3-point sharpshooter Kayla McBride and forward Dorka Juhasz, and had their worst offensive output of the season.

No player reached double figures for the Lynx as they shot 28.6% (16 of 56) from the field and had 17 turnovers.

Diamond Miller and Alissa Pili led the Lynx with eight points while Natisha Hiedeman had seven and Myisha Hines-Allen, Bridget Carleton, Alanna Smith and Courtney Williams all had six.

The Sparks took the lead early and kept it. They had a 16-point lead in the first half but settled for a 38-30 advantage at the break.

It was 53-44 heading into the fourth quarter. Williams completed a four-point play with 7:39 remaining to pull Minnesota within 53-48, but L.A. scored the next 13 points for a 66-48 lead with under three minutes remaining. Nurse had three of her four 3-pointers in the surge and Rae Burrell added another.

The Sparks went 2-14 after the Olympic break and will have the best odds in the WNBA draft lottery.

WNBA playoffs begin Sunday

The WNBA playoffs are set with the Atlanta Dream getting the eighth seed on Thursday night.

The postseason begins Sunday with four best-of-three matchups. The Dream face the top-seeded New York Liberty. The Minnesota Lynx, the No. 2 seed, will host the No. 7 seed Phoenix Mercury while the No. 3 Connecticut Sun will welcome the No. 6 seed Indiana Fever and sensational rookie Caitlin Clark.

The final opening round matchup is the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces, the No. 4 seed, hosting the fifth-seeded Seattle Storm.

Las Vegas is trying to become the first team to win three titles in a row since Houston won four straight in the first four seasons of the WNBA — from 1997 to 2000.

The better-seeded team will host the first two games of the series with a potential decisive third game to be played at the site of the lower-seeded squad.

Three of the eight playoff positions came down to the final day of the regular season.

The final playoff spot came down to the last day of the regular season. Atlanta needed a victory to clinch a spot and the Dream did just that by beating New York 78-67. The Liberty had already clinched the top seed. Connecticut knocked off Chicago 87-54 to secure the No. 3 seed.

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As early voting starts this Friday in Minnesota, elections officials say they’ve improved the state’s new automatic voter registration system after a review discovered around 1,000 registrations that lacked proof of citizenship and addresses.

To the knowledge of state officials, none of those possibly ineligible voters cast ballots in the August primary election, Secretary of State Steve Simon said Thursday. The registrations flagged by the Department of Public Safety will be considered inactive until the personal information is verified.

“We were made aware this summer of a glitch,” Simon told reporters at the Capitol during a news conference. “There’s no evidence that anyone voted, which is a good thing, and it’s good that they caught that error when they did.”

In April, Minnesota started to automatically register people to vote when applying for or renewing driver’s licenses or state ID cards. The new system was passed by the Democratic-Farmer-Labor-controlled Legislature and signed into law by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz in 2023.

That same year they ended a two-decade ban on driver’s licenses for people in the U.S. illegally. Republican opponents of automatic voter registration said they were concerned that could lead to noncitizens getting registered to vote, though the automatic voter registration through ID applications requires proof of citizenship.

Vetting registrations

Still, the state’s public safety department found issues with the system and initiated a “hand check” of about 100,000 automatic registrations, according to Simon. About 1% lacked proof of information like address, name, and citizenship, the review found.

In response, DPS has changed its process for vetting automatic voter registrations after finding issues, and will now require “two sets of eyes” to review every record. Before just one employee would vet registrations.

In a statement on the issue last week, the Secretary of State’s Office said it was working with the Driver and Vehicle Services division of DPS to increase “training for all front-end workers who are classifying documents.”

Simon, a member of the DFL, noted Minnesota’s new automatic voter registration law requires strong scrutiny of records to ensure ineligible voters aren’t registered.

“The people of Minnesota have every right to expect that it’s airtight. And what I intend with our partners — to deliver is a system that’s airtight,” Simon said, telling reporters he’s confident the changes to the review process will ensure issues will be resolved ahead of the general election on Nov. 5.

Republicans press for results of review

Over the past few weeks, Republican Minnesota lawmakers had been pressing on DPS to release results of the review.

In a Thursday statement, Sen. Mark Koran, the North Branch Republican lead on the Senate Elections Committee, expressed appreciation for the state’s efforts to verify registrations and called for stronger vetting.

“I’m encouraged their prompt response and ability to adapt will lead to fruitful conversations next year about putting in place a uniform voter verification process for every voter registration,” he said.

Reports of issues with Minnesota’s automatic voter registration system come after Oregon transportation department officials reported 306 noncitizens had been registered to vote, according to the Associated Press. Two had voted in elections since 2021.

Early voting begins

Questions about Minnesota’s automatic voter registration system come as early voting begins.

As of Friday Minnesotans can begin voting via absentee ballots or in person.

The deadline to preregister to vote in Minnesota is Oct. 15, but same-day registration is also available at the polls.

More information on where to vote and how to register can be found at mnvotes.gov or by calling 1-877-600-VOTE (8683).

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After spending all of last season answering questions about whether 2023-24 would be his last season, Marc-Andre Fleury made it clear after signing his current deal — a one-year, $2.5 million contract extension — this season will be his last.

Every time the Wild would play in a different arena, the same questions would be repeated. The veteran goaltender — a slam-dunk future hall of famer who turns 40 on Nov. 28 — is hoping that was enough to stave off another such tour in 2024-25.

“I don’t want any special treatment,” Fleury, entering his 22nd NHL season, said after the Wild’s first training camp workouts on Thursday at TRIA Rink. “I just want to go, look around, bring back some memories from my time here, but definitely not looking forward to any special treatment. Don’t need that. We’re good.”

If Fleury gets any extra attention this season, he hopes it’s because he’s helping his team win in the playoffs, which he missed last season for the first time in a remarkable 17 years. It’s important, he said, that his career ends in the postseason.

He won Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh in 2009, 2016, and 2017, and helped the Vegas Golden Knights advance to the Cup final in 2018 and the Western Conference final in 2021. In all, he has played in 169 playoff games, 166 of them starts. Six of those have been in Minnesota, all of them in the first round.

The goal for Fleury and his teammates is to change that this spring.

“You know, it’s the most fun time of the year,” Fleury said. “It’s so intense, the atmosphere in the building is awesome, the battles, the intensity. It’s fun to watch, too, fun to watch the guys go and see how much the crowd gets into it — every building you go to. Yeah, it’s the best time to play.”

To that end, Fleury is ready to do whatever it takes to help the Wild win games this season, whether it’s starting games or tutoring rookie prospect Jesper Wallstedt, whose play with the Wild late last season indicated he might be ready to challenge Fleury and Filip Gustavsson for starts this season.

Fleury said Thursday he had yet to sit down with head coach John Hynes to talk about the goaltending plans this season, but Hynes and general manager Bill Guerin had made it clear that if having three goaltenders on the roster helps the team win, it’s going to happen — at least sporadically.

Like they were last season, the Wild are carrying $14.7 million dead cap space from the Zach Parise / Ryan Suter buyouts and will be fighting to stay under the $88 million cap all season, which will hamper the team’s ability to keep three goalies on the roster without help from injury emergency rules.

And the Wild hope they don’t need emergency rules this season.

“Maybe it’s a situation where all three look great (in camp and) we can’t carry all three for the time being,” Hynes said Thursday. “So, maybe we carry two and send Wally down. He plays, plays, plays and bang! He gets called up. It’s going to be a fluid situation, so it’s all going to depend.

“I don’t want to get too far into the future, but I think all things are on the table, with it being said that if all three guys are worthy of being in the net at the NHL level and helping us win games, we’re going to find a way.”

Last season wasn’t just about Fleury possibly playing his last NHL season; he also was chasing Patrick Roy for second on the career wins list for a goalie. He passed him with his 552nd win, a 5-0 victory over the New York Islanders at Xcel Energy Center on Jan. 15.

It was his 75th career shutout, 11th all time. Fleury can’t catch leader Martin Brodeur’s 691 career victories, but one shutout would tie him with Ed Belfour for 10th, and three would move him past Roberto Luongo for eighth place.

Moving up on the shutouts list would be a big accomplishment, but it won’t likely attract the attention that his career wins chase did.

That’s good for Fleury, who just wants to play this season.

“At the end of the day, I want to try to help the team as much as I can, to get some wins and enjoy it in the meantime — work hard, get the guys going,” he said. “Whatever it is.”

A “Free Farmers’ Market” food give-away will be held at Allianz Field in St. Paul on Friday, marking five years since the market’s inception.

The event, put together by Minnesota United, Allianz Life and Keystone Community Services, will run from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. The goal of the market is to feed people facing food insecurity in the Midway neighborhood and beyond. Allianz has hosted 22 markets since the professional soccer stadium opened in 2019.

Over the past five years, the markets have served over 9,800 households. That number is expected to surpass 10,000 on Friday.

“We’re trying to continuously combat food insecurity in the Midway neighborhood specifically, throughout the entirety of St. Paul and if there are people coming from different parts of the Twin Cities, they are all welcome as well,” said Minnesota United spokesman Aaron Tomich.

Food provided will include produce, canned goods and non-perishables. A drive-through experience is available in the parking lot between Allianz Field and the McDonald’s on University Avenue. The market is walkable for those without a vehicle.

One in nine Minnesotans — approximately 500,000 people — currently experience food insecurity, according to Hunger Solutions Minnesota. State residents made over 7.5 million visits to food shelves last year.

Through the free farmers market events, Minnesota United, Allianz Life and Keystone Community Services have reached more than 41,600 people in the Midway and distributed 447,123 pounds of food, according to the team.

Minnesota United FC Chief Executive Officer Shari Ballard, Allianz Life president and CEO Jasmine Jirele, Keystone Community Services CEO Adero Riser Cobb, and Second Harvest Heartland CEO Allison O’Toole will all be in attendance to commemorate five years.

Allianz Field is located at 400 Snelling Ave. N. in St. Paul. For more information, visit keystoneservices.org/venue/allianz-field.

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