Sparks Again Show No Fire and Lose Big
Not much riding for Julie Rousseau in Monday night’s game with the Cleveland Rockers.
Just her job.
A win would have been great.
A solid effort would have helped.
She got neither.
The Sparks (6-13) lost for the fourth time in their last five games, 83-67. Even with Lisa Leslie back in the lineup, it matched Los Angeles’ worst beating of the season--a 79-63 loss to Houston on June 21.
After Monday’s game, team president Johnnie Buss convened a late-night meeting at the team’s hotel with the coaching staff, himself and General Manager Rhonda Windham.
“We’re not making any coaching changes on this road trip, but we need to talk this out tonight,” he said.
In the gloomy Spark locker room, everyone agreed that only one player had risen above the club’s mediocre performance--second-year forward Mwadi Mabika of The Congo.
There are WNBA people who believe Mabika’s raw talent is sufficient for her to become a star, and Monday night she took more small steps in that direction.
She’s become one of the league’s most aggressive defenders and seems to be slowly becoming a consistent offensive force, particularly around the basket. On her 22nd birthday, she had a game-high 16 points and eight rebounds.
She even outplayed Leslie, who had joined the team Sunday after missing two games with assorted injuries. But Leslie had her first personal foul 41 seconds into the game and her third with 14:38 left in the first half. She played 24 minutes and had 12 points and seven rebounds.
The Sparks had virtually no inside game, even with Leslie on the floor, and shot 38% from the field. Cleveland (11-8) got a six-for-eight night from 6-5 Isabelle Fijalkowski and shot 56%.
“Cleveland came after us with a high energy level because they’re fighting for a playoff spot, and we couldn’t match that,” Rousseau said.
OTHER WNBA GAME
At Charlotte, N.C., the Sacramento Monarchs (6-14) got 14 points, 12 assists and five steals from Ticha Penicheiro in a 76-70 victory over the Sting (14-7) before 5,447.