Sparks Get Going Just in Time to Win

Nancy Lieberman-Cline, the Detroit coach, best summed up the distribution of talent among the WNBA’s 12 teams.

“There just aren’t any gimmes in this league,” she said.

If there were, the Sparks would have had one Monday night.

The Cleveland Rockers came into the game dragging the league’s worst record, 2-9, yet led for most of the game--by 12 points, in fact, with 12:46 to go--and took the Sparks into the final seconds before losing their third in a row, 74-72.

Once again, before 5,947, Mwadi Mabika came to the rescue.

It was the Sparks’ (8-4) fifth consecutive victory, and it came on a night when Sacramento (8-4) lost at New York, creating a second-place tie in the WNBA’s Western Conference, behind Houston (10-1).

Slow starts have been a summer-long Spark problem, and after his team was again obliged to play with desperation to get a win, Coach Orlando Woolridge said he might move up his halftime oratory to the pregame speech.

“I told ‘em just now: ‘Look, if you’re gonna make me come in here at halftime every time and scream and holler at you to get you to play, fine. That’s my job,’ ” he said.

“But let me know now, so I can move it up to the pregame.”

The Sparks trailed, 42-34, at halftime and the Cleveland lead was extended to 56-44 when Eva Nemcova made an 18-footer with 12:46 to go.

And even when Cleveland then went six minutes without a field goal, the Rockers still had a 69-62 lead with 4:30 left.

Then it was time for Mabika, who two nights earlier made two three-point baskets within 14 seconds to ignite a rally that carried the Sparks over Detroit.

On Monday night, she was one for eight when she did it again.

She made three-point baskets with 3:01 and 2:28 to go, creating a 71-69 Spark lead, their first of the second half.

Alisa Burras, a 6-foot-3 Cleveland rookie from Louisiana Tech, got the Rockers one last lead, 72-71, with 1:39 to go, but Nina Bjedov, who made two key three-point shots from beyond the top of the key in the late going, gave the Sparks a 73-72 edge with an 18-foot jump shot.

The last shot was by Cleveland’s Merlakia Jones, a 16-foot baseline jumper with three seconds that missed.

Woolridge said his faith in Mabika is boundless.

“If she’d been 0 for 10, she knows I want her to take that shot,” he said.

The Sparks made nine more field goals than Cleveland, but the Rockers made 25 of 30 free throws to the Sparks’ four of 10.

For the most part, the Rockers played the Sparks even in the first half, or until sub center Burras, who scored 16 points, took charge in the three minutes before intermission.

After Jones put Cleveland up, 33-30, with a 16-foot jump shot, Burras scored on two successive rebounds, a drive and on a free throw. When Nemcova made two free throws in the final seconds, the Rockers had a 42-34 lead.

Other Game

Vickie Johnson scored 20 points to lead the New York Liberty over the Sacramento Monarchs, 76-63, before 10,940 at New York. The Liberty scored the game’s final nine points in winning its fifth consecutive game at home.