Sparks’ Skid Reaches Four

The Washington Mystics were 3-27 last season, which is why they were able to take Chamique Holdsclaw with the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft last May.

And Holdsclaw was a major reason the Mystics won their sixth game in a row Saturday, holding off the slumping Sparks, 55-53, before a national television audience and 19,974 in the MCI Center.

The Sparks lost their fourth in a row when a last-second three-point shot by Tamecka Dixon bounced off the front of the rim.

Amazing as it may seem, the Mystics (12-17) actually have a shot at making the playoffs and the Sparks (17-11) could fall short, though that’s unlikely.

With their next victory, the Sparks will eliminate the Minnesota Lynx--their Wednesday night opponent at the Great Western Forum--and the Phoenix Mercury and qualify for a one-game playoff against the Sacramento Monarchs on Aug. 24.

But that one victory was starting to look very hard to come by late Saturday. After winning 13 of 15, Coach Orlando Woolridge’s team has lost five of six.

For the second time in three games, a Spark loss came down to the last shot.

Yolanda Griffith beat the Sparks in Sacramento last Tuesday with a last-gasp follow shot and this time it was the Dixon miss, which was preceded by Murriel Page’s winner with less than four seconds to play.

The Sparks lost a war of attrition.

Their 6-foot-6 backup center, Nina Bjedov, suffered a back injury Friday at practice and didn’t suit up. Starter Lisa Leslie had only five points and six rebounds when she fouled out with 3:23 to play.

And Mwadi Mabika, who led the Sparks with 12 points, was ejected with 9:03 remaining after disputing a foul call, leaving Woolridge with only nine players, eight after Leslie fouled out.

The Sparks got the shots they wanted, but they wouldn’t fall. They made only 36% of their shots after making only 30% in Thursday night’s 83-61 loss to the Houston Comets.

Most abominable was the Sparks’ three-point shooting. They made only two of 12 from beyond the arc, including a basket by Gordana Grubin that put them in position to pull out a victory.

With the Sparks trailing, 53-50, and 23.7 seconds to play, Grubin missed a three-point attempt, but La’Keshia Frett got the rebound and passed the ball out to Grubin in the same spot.

This time, she made the shot.

But Mystic point guard Andrea Nagy, after a long clock-killing wait, found Page alone underneath the basket for the winning points.

“We’re tired, but we need to practice too,” Woolridge said afterward, uncertain whether to schedule a full workout for today. “We’ll have at least a shoot-around. All we need is to get that one win, get in the playoffs, and we can regroup then.”

Holdsclaw, hounded by Frett and DeLisha Milton, made only four of 17 shots but finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds.

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Around the WNBA

Cynthia Cooper scored 17 points as the two-time defending WNBA champion Houston Comets rolled to a 71-53 victory over the Minnesota Lynx before 13,859 at Houston. The victory gave Houston home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. . . . Shannon Johnson scored 14 points to lead the Orlando Miracle over the Cleveland Rockers, 73-61, before 11,392 at Cleveland. . . . Adrienne Goodson scored 23 points to lead the Utah Starzz past the Sacramento Monarchs, 97-89, before 11,215 at Sacramento.

Sacramento’s Yolanda Griffith is expected to undergo season-ending knee surgery Monday. Griffith suffered a partial tear of the medial meniscus in her right knee in Friday night’s victory over Charlotte.