Win Streak Hits Nine for Sparks

The Sparks stretched their franchise-record winning streak to nine Sunday with their most lopsided victory of the season, 85-63, over the Detroit Shock at the Great Western Forum.

They still are six from the WNBA record win streak of 15 set by Houston in 1998, but their ninth in a row equaled the second-longest win streak in the league’s four years.

Reaching 10 in a row Wednesday at Sacramento will be another matter.

The Monarchs are one of only two teams to defeat the Sparks (13-2) this season, but Sunday’s performance strengthened Coach Michael Cooper’s conviction about his Sparks.

“This was another 40-minute outstanding defensive effort and if we can play like this Wednesday in Sacramento, with two days’ rest, that will be good enough to win,” he said after his team won on back-to-back days at home.

The consecutive games were particularly difficult for Detroit (7-8) because the Shock lost the starting guard Dominique Canty, who aggravated a groin injury Saturday at Sacramento, and didn’t suit up Sunday.

Another small holiday weekend crowd, announced as 5,486, saw the Sparks go ahead, 39-29, by halftime and take their first 20-point lead, 57-37, with 13:30 left.

Both teams went to their bench often Sunday. Shock Coach Nancy Lieberman-Cline played 10 players at least 12 minutes, and Cooper logged eight at double-digit minutes.

Mwadi Mabika had a game-high 21 points but, more important, showed signs of shedding her season-long three-point shooting slump, making four of five from behind the arc and eight of 15 shots overall.

The Sparks shot 42% (Detroit was 36.1%), but it was swarming inside-outside defensive prowess that choked off another opponent.

“The defense we played these last two games is good enough to win at Sacramento; Houston; Nome, Alaska, and Albuquerque, New Mexico,” Cooper said.

“We’re slowly honing our defense to where we want it, where we can count on a 40-minute effort every time. We’re not knocking down our open shots like we should, but that will come.”

Tired legs were the reason for that, said the Sparks’ Allison Feaster, who had 10 points but was one for four from three-point range.

“My legs were kind of tired and that showed in my shots,” she said. “But I wasn’t throwing up bricks. They were in-and-out misses. I like to run the floor hard and by the time I get back on offense, I could feel it [fatigue] in my legs.”

The Sparks rank 12th in the 16-team WNBA in three-point shooting. They were five for 13 Sunday.

“If teams who are now doubling and tripling on Lisa [Leslie] inside suddenly had to start guarding our perimeter players, you’d really see something then--we’d be scary,” Cooper said.

The Sparks could use some inside accuracy too. Mabika missed three open shots underneath Sunday, and her teammates blew another three or four.

Leslie, who had three fouls in the first 12 minutes and played only eight minutes of the first half, finished with another double-double before fouling out with 3:15 to play. In 23 minutes, she had 18 points and 12 rebounds. DeLisha Milton added 12 points, five rebounds, two steals and four assists.

In a five-minute second-half stretch, when the Sparks fattened their lead from 48-35 to 63-41, Leslie and Milton contributed a combined 11 points.

Tamecka Dixon had a career-high eight assists to go with her nine points.

Lieberman-Cline, whose team lost, 108-96, at Sacramento Saturday, advised Sunday’s victors to be wary of the Monarchs.

“Sacramento just gets better and better,” she said.

“Tangela Smith is becoming a premier post player in this league--she’s their DeLisha Milton.”

She said Sunday’s loss of Canty was major.

“I don’t want to take anything away from L.A.--they played well--but Canty is our best perimeter defender. We really missed her.”

She saluted the Spark defenders.

“That’s a good, solid defense,” she said.

“They rotate well, they play smart and they play great containment defense inside. When you get near the paint, they can block your shots or at least alter them.”

Spark Notes

After Wednesday’s game at Sacramento, the Sparks return for six consecutive games at the Great Western Forum, beginning Thursday against Chamique Holdsclaw and Washington.