Dixon Tries to Provide the Spark, but Her Effort Is in Vain

The Sparks, behind a 21-point second-half effort by Tamecka Dixon, wiped out an eight-point halftime deficit, led by five twice in the final minutes, then swooned before the Sacramento Monarchs Tuesday night, 73-69.

Dixon, the explosive second-year guard from Kansas, was held scoreless in the first half but made her first five shots of the second half to lead the Sparks’ comeback.

But it wasn’t enough as the Sparks were left with a painful loss and ended a three-game road trip at 1-2.

Interestingly, the last Spark coach who lost at Arco Arena-- Linda Sharp--was fired the next day.

Whatever anxiety current Sparks Coach Julie Rousseau may have felt after Tuesday’s loss wasn’t apparent.

“I’m not discouraged, no, not at all,” Rousseau said of the Sparks’ second straight loss. “When we get ourselves together, when we start strong, stay strong and finish strong, no one will be able to stay with us. We had too many mental lapses tonight, that’s all.”

One key lapse was by Lisa Leslie, who got a technical for calling a timeout with seven seconds left, just after Haixia Zheng had scored on a putback, cutting the Monarch lead to 71-69.

Latasha Byears made the free throw and Ticha Penicheiro added a free throw after being fouled with three seconds to go.

The Sparks’ Allison Feaster suffered a first-half foot sprain and her status for Friday’s home opener at the Forum against New York is uncertain.

The Monarchs, before an announced crowd of 5,818, played strong defense against the Sparks early, holding them without a field goal in one eight-minute stretch.

But after trailing 33-25 at the halftime, the Sparks summoned up a stout defense of their own, holding the Monarchs scoreless for nearly four minutes while trimming a 12-point deficit to 45-44 with 10:38 to go.

This, after Dixon scored almost at will on lightning-like drives. A Leslie 10-footer and free throw at 9:01 gave the Sparks their first lead since the early minutes at 49-47.

Leslie (19 points and 11 rebounds) and Dixon then scored on drives to give the Sparks a 55-51 lead. And after Pam McGee made a four-footer and a Zheng scored on a putback, they had another five-point lead at 59-54.

Adia Barnes, the Pacific 10 player of the year at Arizona last season, made two big closing plays for Sacramento: an 18-foot baseline jumper for a 62-62 tie at 2:57 and an 18-footer from the other side to put the Monarchs up 64-62 at 1:58.

Another Dixon drive gave the Sparks a 64-64 tie at 1:40, but Byears gave Sacramento a 66-64 lead at 1:33--an advantage it would not relinquish.

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The Sparks’ remaining national TV schedule: June 27 at Houston (NBC), July 13 at Phoenix (ESPN), July 17 Houston at L.A. (Lifetime), July 25 at Detroit (NBC), July 27 at Cleveland (ESPN), July 31 Phoenix at L.A. (Lifetime), Aug. 3 Washington at L.A. (ESPN), Aug. 8 at New York (NBC).