Comets Get Western Title by the Throat : WNBA: Houston stops Sparks to win Western title. Leslie takes out frustration on Thompson.

The Sparks, having given no indication the night before or at an awful midday practice that they were capable of any such challenge, took the Houston Comets to the final minutes Monday before their season expired, 72-62, in final game of the Western Conference championship series before 12,673 at the Compaq Center.

Los Angeles thus goes home, its season terminated with a 20-12 regular-season mark--second best in the WNBA--and 2-2 in the playoffs after losing the decisive Game 3.

Houston, having won the Western title, advances to the WNBA’s best-of-three championship series, beginning Thursday at Madison Square Garden against the New York Liberty.

In Houston, all is right with the world. The Comets are 44-7 at home in three seasons, 9-2 all-time in the postseason.

The Sparks, trying valiantly for their first win at Houston, led by as many as nine in the first half and as late as 8:30 to go, 55-54.

Then one player, 36-year-old Cynthia Cooper, took the game by the throat and spurred her team down the stretch.

The two-time most valuable player and three-time scoring champion had 23 points (the same as Sheryl Swoopes), 12 assists and seven rebounds, and even provided the fumble that ignited the Comet run that broke the Sparks’ back.

It came with 4:24 remaining and the Comets ahead, 61-59.

Cooper bobbled the ball on a drive, and it bounced right to teammate Tammy Jackson, who scored. Janeth Arcain then scored on a soaring drive and Swoopes scored on a breakaway for 67-59 lead with 2:21 to go.

The game ended in an unseemly near-brawl by two old Morningside High and USC teammates, Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson.

Going downcourt toward the Houston basket, Thompson appeared to be taunting Leslie in the final seconds. Leslie countered with a forearm to Thompson’s throat, and Thompson began jerking her thumb upward, apparently signaling a Leslie ejection.

At that point, the Spark bench cleared and an infuriated Leslie had to be dragged off the court, and driven to the floor on the sideline. Both were ejected.

Afterward, the bickering continued.

Leslie: “I’m sorry I shoved her, I regret what I did. But we’d had no exchanges before that, it was very unsportsmanlike at that stage of the game to curse me.”

Thompson: “She said that? That is a flat-out lie. I didn’t curse her. She’d just elbowed me in the stomach, and I said: ‘OK, Lisa, fine--go ahead. You guys are done.’ ”

For a half, Los Angeles seemed headed to the championship series.

Its bench was in jubilation as a run took the Sparks from 21-21 to 30-21 with 7:21 left before the break. Leslie scored twice in the run and Mwadi Mabika got an acrobatic putback.

The Sparks led, 38-35, at intermission, but Houston’s defense stiffened in the second half and Spark turnovers began turning into Houston breakaways.

Spark Coach Orlando Woolridge, booed before the game for his ejection Friday night, was unbowed afterward.

“I’m proud of my team and what it accomplished this year,” he said.

“We responded well tonight, we fought hard. This team has a great future.”

Houston Coach Van Chancellor, asking about his 36-year-old leader going all 40 minutes, was interrupted by Cooper herself.

“I told coach a long time ago, I don’t care what you do to me as long as you let me play,” she quipped.

Said Chancellor: “You know, there are NBA players who don’t get 12 assists in a season. I was afraid to take Cynthia out, she got so mad at me Sunday night when I took her out for three minutes.”

This wasn’t the Los Angeles team that swooned early Sunday and lost, 83-55.

But it looked like it at a noon Compaq Center practice.

Disgusted when yet another pass went into the seats, Woolridge yanked his players off the court, walked them to a corner of the building and read the riot act--complete with multiple blankety-blanks--for five minutes.

A highlight: “You may never be in this position the rest of your lives!”

The message connected, apparently.

For a half, at least, the dream looked real.

*

NEW YORK 69, CHARLOTTE 54

The Liberty, with Crystal Robinson on target from three-point range, takes the Eastern crown and moves on to the championship series. Page 6