More Is Definitely Leslie for Sparks
It didn’t quite work the way coach Julie Rousseau thought it would--who could have foreseen, for example, a WNBA one-game record 21 rebounds by Lisa Leslie?--but it worked out well enough as the Los Angeles Sparks edged the New York Liberty, 78-75, Friday night in their home opener at the Great Western Forum.
Before an announced crowd of 11,191, the Sparks took a lead 11 minutes into the game and never relinquished it, boosting their record to 2-2 and dropping the Liberty--playing their second game in two nights and their fifth in a row on the road--to 1-4.
Leslie, with 14 rebounds in the first half, had her most productive game yet as a pro, dominating New York’s Rebecca Lobo and Kym Hampton inside.
Leslie set two WNBA records: Most rebounds in a game and most in a half.
She had 19 points, five offensive and 16 defensive rebounds on a night the Sparks had all aspects of their game working . . . and also limited the Liberty to four fast-break scores.
The outside threat was Tamecka Dixon, rapidly becoming one of the WNBA’s best wings. Her acrobatic drives and jumpers produced 15 points, most of them in the last 10 minutes.
Before the game, when asked who she expected to step up and supply offensive production to make up for injured rookie Allison Feaster, Rousseau said: “I’m looking for Octavia Blue and Mwadi Mabika to step up big tonight.”
She was half right, as it turned out. Haixia Zheng, starting in place of Pam McGee, had 19 points on eight-for-12 shooting. Blue played only two minutes, but second-year player Mabika, like Leslie, had her best pro showing, 12 points in 22 minutes.
Rousseau was ecstatic afterward.
“The best part of this to me was our taking the lead early and then not relinquishing it,” she said.
Well, not exactly. New York, trailing by 12 at the break, caught the Sparks at 55-55 with 9:30 to play.
Lobo tied it with her best play of the night, blocking a Leslie shot at the defensive end, then scored over Leslie seconds later.
Then Dixon made a six-foot hook shot and Leslie scored five points and Los Angeles was up, 62-55.
Mabika scored a three-pointer from the corner to make it 65-58 and Leslie and Dixon boosted it to 69-59 with 2:37 left.
Rousseau now looks for Friday’s performance--easily the Sparks’ best yet--to carry over to Sunday night, when her team hosts league champion Houston.
“This is the kind of game we can carry over to Houston,” she said.
“Lisa was great. I told the team beforehand I wanted 40 team rebounds tonight and Lisa must have had half of those.”
Correct. The Sparks out-rebounded the Liberty, 41-28.
The 6-foot-8 Zheng made big back-to-back plays in both halves.
With three minutes to play in the first half, and Los Angeles with a 24-22 lead, she scored on a put-back and added another basket and a free throw a minute later to give the Sparks a 29-22 lead.
With 11 minutes to play in the game, she got another put-back and and made a six-foot baseline jumper to give her team a 55-48 lead.
Around the WNBA
Nikki McCray scored 29 points to lead the Washington Mystics to their first WNBA victory, a 85-76 triumph over the Utah Starzz before the largest crowd in league history at Washington.
It was the expansion Mystics’ first home game and drew a sellout crowd of 20,674 to the MCI Center.
Center Alessandra Santos de Oliveira added 14 points and seven rebounds for the Mystics (1-3). The Starzz fell to 2-2.