Sparks Take Another Beating
The way an angry, disappointed Coach Orlando Woolridge talked afterward, it became clear what the Sparks need to turn around a dismal start to what only two weeks ago was a promising season.
A martial arts instructor.
There’s not much wrong with the way the Sparks (3-4) play basketball, but they won’t pull out of this tailspin until they stop letting teams pound on them.
It happened in Orlando and New York on their recent trip, and it happened again Thursday night at the Great Western Forum, where, before an announced 8,376, the expansion Minnesota Lynx (3-2) first roughed up the Sparks, then easily won, 86-73.
Lynx Coach Brian Agler, who won two ABL titles with the Columbus Quest, matched his core Quest players plus a Phoenix Mercury castoff, Brandy Reed, against the supposedly deeper, more-talented Sparks and over the last ten minutes won going away.
Reed, a 6-foot-1 forward from Southern Mississippi, was a third-round 1998 draft choice by Phoenix, sat for most of last year, then was left unprotected by the Mercury in the 1999 WNBA expansion draft. Agler made her his first pick.
And she picked apart the Sparks in the second half with a spectacular performance, one Agler later called her best yet. She had a game-high 28 points on 10-for-17 shooting, eight for eight from the free-throw line.
She scored on medium-range jump shots, drives and on runaway breaks.
And Reed was at her best early in the second half, after Minnesota had posted a 37-35 halftime lead, and Agler was protecting Katie Smith and Andrea Lloyd-Curry, each of whom had four fouls by halftime.
Reed scored inside after Smith started the second half with a three-point basket for a 42-35 lead, then made two free throws, a 15-foot baseline jumper, an 18-footer a minute later and her 16-footer with 12:56 helped power Minnesota to a 54-50 lead.
La’Keshia Frett gave the Sparks a brief lead, 59-58, with a 16-foot jumper at 9:51, but Tonya Edwards countered with two free throws, beat Allison Feaster badly on a drive and former Stanford star Kristin Folkl made an 18-footer on the baseline to give the Lynx a 64-61 lead.
Reed and Folkl scored eight straight points in less than two minutes to widen the gap to 74-65 with 3:50 left.
If it was an ABL-WNBA matchup, the ABL won.
Agler’s Columbus players (Smith, Lloyd-Curry, Tonya Edwards, Sonja Tate and Angie Potthoff) accounted for 43 points.
An angry Woolridge said the Sparks must evolve quickly into a meaner, tougher team.
“They did what they wanted--they roughed us up, took it to us physically, and we didn’t respond,” he said.
“The league has gotten much more physical [there were 55 fouls called], and we have got to get more physical.”
Said Agler: “That was our best game, no question. We played well defensively, we didn’t let Lisa [Leslie] hurt us too bad [21 points, seven rebounds]. Brandy not only played a great offensive game, I thought she did a great job guarding Mwadi Mabika.”
Meanwhile, the Sparks said late Thursday night that a “team announcement” will be made at 1 p.m. today.
Woolridge was in a meeting with team President Johnny Buss after the Sparks’ fourth loss in the last five games.
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In other WNBA games:
Sacramento 107, Utah 69--Ruthie Bolton-Holifield scored 27 points and Yolanda Griffith had 24 points and 14 rebounds at Sacramento as the Monarchs (5-2) set a league high for points scored this season in a victory over the Starzz (2-3).
It was the second highest point total in the WNBA’s three-year history. The Houston Comets scored 110 points against Washington last year.
The Monarchs, unbeaten in four home games this year, established a new franchise record for points scored in a game and also a half, outscoring Utah 59-27 after intermission. Their 55% shooting was also a new team mark.
Houston 77, Detroit 65--Cynthia Cooper scored 17 of her 24 points in a lopsided first half to lead the Comets (5-0) to a victory over the Shock (4-3) at Auburn Hills, Mich. The Comets, the league’s only unbeaten team, led, 45-25, at halftime.
Detroit was without U.S. Olympian Jen Azzi, who missed the game because of an injured quadriceps muscle. Houston center Monica Lamb missed the game after suffering a left-eye injury in practice on Tuesday.
Charlotte 88, Phoenix 72--Andrea Stinson scored 23 points and Vicky Bullett added 16 at Charlotte, N.C., as the Sting (2-3) beat the Mercury (2-4).