Rockers Fire Coach After Win

The last-place Cleveland Rockers surprised the Eastern Conference champion New York Liberty, 66-56, Saturday at Cleveland on the final day of the regular season, but it wasn’t enough to save Coach Linda Hill-MacDonald’s job.

Hill-MacDonald was fired, as was assistant Susan Yow, after the victory, which ended an eight-game losing streak for Cleveland (7-25).

Hill-MacDonald, who coached the Rockers since the WNBA’s inception in 1997, had a 42-48 record with the team, including a 20-10 record last season when Cleveland won the Eastern Conference title.

“At this time, we feel it is in the best interest of the organization to move forward in a new direction,” Rocker General Manager Wayne Embry said in a news release.

Hill-MacDonald could not be reached for comment.

Cleveland trailed New York (18-14) by eight points in the first half before a 22-4 run put the Rockers ahead, 31-21, before a crowd of 11,460.

Detroit 74, Orlando 68--The Shock, led by Jennifer Azzi’s WNBA career high of 27 points, earned the second-place playoff berth in the Eastern Conference with the victory before 12,378 at Auburn Hills, Mich.

The Miracle (15-17), which had won five in a row, including a victory over the Shock, needed to win to become the first WNBA expansion team to make the playoffs in its first year. Instead, the Shock (15-17), by virtue of tiebreakers, will host Charlotte (15-17) Tuesday in the first-round, one-game playoff.

Shannon Johnson led Orlando, which had a six-point edge at halftime, with 22 points. Detroit went on a 15-2 run in the second half to take a 46-42 lead with 12:49 remaining, but Orlando rallied again and trailed only 70-68 with 18 seconds left. Then Azzi made two free throws and Orlando turned the ball over to put away the game for the Shock. Detroit’s Wendy Palmer had 21 points and 14 rebounds.

Houston 74, Sacramento 65--On a night when Sheryl Swoopes was sidelined by a right knee sprain, Cynthia Cooper returned to the court with 27 points and 10 assists in 36 minutes to lead the Western Conference champion Comets (26-6) to victory in front of a Sacramento franchise-record crowd of 15,689.

Cooper, who sat out Friday’s game in L.A. in the wake of friend and teammate Kim Perrot’s death, was nine for 18 from the floor, including four for seven from three-point range. Swoopes left the game with 6:58 remaining in the first half but is expected to be available when the Comets begin playoff action Thursday.

Minnesota 48, Washington 45--The Mystics (12-20) erased an 11-point deficit midway through the second half and got within 46-45 on a layup by Murriel Page with four seconds remaining, but Tonya Edwards made two free throws with two seconds left to lead the Lynx (15-17) before 19,839 at Washington. Washington’s Chamique Holdsclaw was held scoreless on 0-for-3 shooting in 20 minutes.