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Sparks Bring Down the Mercury

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

The Sparks, seemingly on their way to another defeat, unaccountably caught fire in the final 10 minutes Thursday night and shocked the Phoenix Mercury, 70-68 . . . and they did it without Lisa Leslie.

They won the game in the final seconds, and in so doing stopped the clock that has been ticking on Coach Julie Rousseau lately.

Los Angeles (6-11) trailed, 61-50, with 8:11 left, and was playing the kind of unfocused, disjointed game that has been so characteristic of the team lately. The Sparks missed easy shots, committed near-flagrant fouls and complained to the officials when the whistle didn’t blow.

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Leslie, who was battered in Tuesday’s New York game and was left with a strained knee, groin and wrist, tried to warm up before the game but could not move laterally without pain. It ended her streak of 44 consecutive starts for the two-year-old franchise and marked the first game she has missed because of injury since the seventh grade.

Her backup, former UCLA forward Sandra Van Embricqs, responded with nine points, four blocked shots and three assists.

And it was a stellar Van Embricqs defensive play in the final minute that helped the Sparks hang on to their 70-68 lead, one Van Embricqs created with two free throws with 1:06 to play.

With 44 seconds to go, on a Phoenix inbounds pass play in front of the Mercury bench, Van Embricqs leaped high to bat the pass into the seats, sending the Great Western Forum crowd of 7,751 into a frenzy.

When Phoenix (12-6) managed to put the ball in play, Michele Timms caught it, began stumbling out of bounds, and threw it away to the Sparks’ Mwadi Mabika, who called for a timeout with 40 seconds left.

At the other end, Penny Toler ran the game clock down to 12 seconds, and missed a jump shot.

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On the Phoenix inbound, Toler intercepted Umeki Webb’s pass and the Sparks and their fans celebrated.

Los Angeles outscored Phoenix, 45-32, in the second half after trailing by 11 at the break.

Rousseau, under fire lately--team President Johnnie Buss said Wednesday her chances of lasting the season were only “better than 50-50”--credited Van Embricqs and Eugenia Rycraw.

“They were our two-headed monster,” she said.

“They were great. Now we’ve got a shot of confidence, because we just beat the No. 2 team in our conference.”

Without Leslie, Los Angeles designated Pam McGee, Van Embricqs and Rycraw to guard Jennifer Gillom. They achieved little. Gillom had 14 points and six rebounds at the break, and finished with 27 points.

Toler and Dixon picked up the scoring slack, combining for 44.

WNBA Notes

The Washington Mystics, who have the WNBA’s worst record, fired Coach Jim Lewis on Thursday. The Mystics, in their first season in the 2-year-old league, fell to 2-16 after Wednesday night’s 76-61 loss at Detroit. Assistant coach Cathy Parson will replace Lewis on an interim basis for the remainder of the season.

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