Sparks Show Off Depth, Shut Down Sacramento

The Sparks, as talented, balanced and deep as they said they were, started slowly but blew away Sacramento in a rousing 100-78 rout in their WNBA opener Thursday night at the Great Western Forum.

With six players scoring in double figures, the Sparks shot 53% and their suffocating inside defense limited the Monarchs to 40%.

Lisa Leslie appeared to win her first matchup with Sacramento center Yolanda Griffith, primarily because of help from her new teammates, DeLisha Milton and Clarisse Machanguana, who blocked the lanes, filled gaps, rebounded and kick-started numerous Spark fastbreaks with outlet passes.

The downside to the rousing night was the crowd. It was 8,262, well above last year’s average, but big black curtains still hang, hiding the empty seats.

The jittery Sparks fell behind early and didn’t lead for good until midway through the first half. But once point guard Ukari Figgs fell into sync with Allison Feaster, Leslie, Milton, Machanguana and Tamecka Dixon, they became a runaway train.

That group took Los Angeles from a 15-13 deficit to a 28-19 lead in 3 1/2 minutes.

Sonny Allen, the Sacramento coach, was impressed.

“That’s a good team, they have a lot of people who shoot the ball very well,” he said.

“They’re very athletic. . . . I saw no weaknesses. They just wore us down. At one point I counted six of eight shots for their bench players.”

Figgs, the rookie from Purdue who beat out veteran Penny Toler for the starting point assignment, had a big debut. She made three of four three-pointers, scored 14 points and had four steals.

“This is much more physical than college ball, but I like that,” she said. “It’s much faster too.”

Spark Coach Orlando Woolridge was delighted.

“Once they calmed down early, once they really turned it up on defense, the offense took care of itself,” he said.

“Defensively, Allison and Mwadi [Mabika] did a great defensive job on Kate Starbird.”

Starbird, a major scorer in the ABL, had just five points.

In the Leslie-Griffith matchup, early in first half, Leslie drove right by Griffith for a left-handed baseline layup.

In the second half, Griffith went over Leslie to score a hard-earned putback.

Leslie played 28 minutes, Griffith 29. Leslie had 19 points, many of those over Griffith, and four rebounds. Griffith scored 15, with eight rebounds.

“I think we have what it takes; I couldn’t be happier,” Leslie said.

Feaster, the second-year pro from Harvard, was more explicit.

“We believe we can take this to the championship, we believe that every time we step on the court,” she said.

The opening-night Spark theme was defense, with Woolridge deploying his big people in a suffocating, blocking, clog-the-middle low-post scheme.

And if that wasn’t enough, when the gap widened to over 20 points in the waning moments, Woolridge sent in his Yugoslav point guard, Gordana Grubin, who reported from Europe 24 hours earlier, and had attended half of a shootaround.

She closed the show with a jump shot for the Sparks’ 100th point.

The Sparks leave this morning for their longest road trip of the season. They play at Cleveland Saturday, then travel to Orlando, New York, Charlotte and Houston.

OPENING NIGHT

NOTES

The Sparks’ two Yugoslav players--guard Gordana Grubin and forward Nina Bjedov--told reporters that their families had survived NATO’s bombing of their country. Page 9

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AT A GLANCE

HIGHEST ATTENDANCE

Washington, 20,674

LOWEST ATTENDANCE

Forum, 8,262

MOST POINTS, PLAYER

Cooper, Houston, 24

MOST POINTS, TEAM

Sparks, 100