Sparks Finally Win a Close One
In a game they desperately wanted to win for a dozen or more reasons, the Sparks finally showed Friday night that they can hang together in the home stretch and beat somebody.
Even somebody who beat them with a last-second shot at the Forum two weeks ago.
Before a crowd of 15,648 in America West Arena, Lisa Leslie made one big play after another in the late going, fouled out, then watched her teammates beat Phoenix and Cheryl Miller in overtime, 86-83.
Losers of three in a row and six of their previous seven, the Sparks (6-10) came in with a game plan that fully involved 6-foot-8, 250-pound Zheng Haixia.
Zheng scored 11 points in the game’s first six and-a-half minutes, giving her team a fast start on its way to a 42-40 halftime lead.
Guard Penny Toler looked as if she had won it in overtime with a 15-foot jumper with two seconds left. The ball bounced three times on the rim, then came off, leaving a 79-79 tie.
“I was ready to throw up my hands, jump, and yell ‘Let’s get outta here!’ ” Toler said. “It felt great when I let it go.”
Said interim Coach Julie Rousseau: “Lisa was great. She showed great patience when they were trying to cut her legs out from under her. She waited, and the game came to her.”
Leslie was six of 19 from the field.
In overtime, Los Angeles had an 85-83 lead with 10 seconds left. Michele Timms of Phoenix (8-5) looked as if she might tie it with a spinning layup but the shot missed and the Mercury’s Marlies Askamp committed a foul on the rebound.
Tamecka Dixon made one of her two free throws, and that was it.
Afterward, Leslie (17 points, 8 rebounds in 28 minutes) inspected the damage. She pointed to cuts across the forehead and one about three inches long on her forearm.
“We got some ladies in this league who need to trim their nails,” she said.
Leslie was examined by WNBA official Renee Brown, who said there is no league rule on fingernail length. “But I’m going to bring it up at the next meeting,” she said.
Both teams had five players in double figures, with Phoenix’s Bridget Pettis and Jennifer Gillom joining Leslie with 17.
WNBA Notes
At Sacramento, Cynthia Cooper scored 44 points, setting a WNBA scoring record for the third time in as many games, as the Houston Comets defeated the Sacramento Monarchs, 86-76.