SPARKS TONIGHT

Opponent--Houston Comets.

Site--Forum.

Time--7:30.

Records--Sparks 4-7, Comets 7-4.

Update--So far Houston looks like the only Eastern Conference team capable of making a race of it with first-place New York (10-2). Tonight marks the return to Los Angeles of Houston guard Cynthia Cooper, 34, who played on USC’s back-to-back national championship teams of the early 1980s, not to mention two Olympic teams. She was the catalyst in Houston’s 71-66 overtime victory against Los Angeles in Houston on June 30, playing 42 minutes and scoring 11 points, with five assists and seven rebounds. Los Angeles plays New York in Madison Square Garden on Saturday and at Charlotte on Monday, which marks the halfway point in the 28-game schedule.