Comets Beat Starzz on Last-Second Shot

Guard Janeth Arcain picked up a wayward rebound and made a 16-foot jump shot with one second to play to give the Houston Comets to a 73-71 victory over the Utah Starzz Saturday night in a WNBA game before 6,841 at Salt Lake City.

Utah tied the game with nine seconds to play on rookie point guard Stacy Frese’s three-point shot. But after a Houston timeout, Arcain converted Cynthia Cooper’s missed driving layup into the game-winner.

Sheryl Swoopes led Houston (6-1) with 22 points, below her 24.8-point average, second-highest in the league. Tina Thompson had 18 points and four blocks, while holding Olympian Natalie Williams in check.

Williams had 17 points and nine rebounds.

Utah (3-3) is 1-12 against the Comets in four seasons.

Orlando 74, Charlotte 71--Shannon Johnson made a three-point shot as time expired to give the Miracle a victory over the Sting before 5,003 at Charlotte.

Charlotte (0-5) is the only WNBA team without a victory this season, and has lost 10 consecutive regular-season games, dating back to last season.

Orlando (4-3) led 68-61 with 1:01 to play, but saw the lead evaporate as Charlotte picked up the intensity in a desperate attempt to earn its first win.

Charlotte’s Tiffany Travis made a long three-point shot with 14 seconds left to cut the Miracles’ lead to 70-68. A free throw by Johnson made it 71-68, but the Sting tied it on Rhonda Mapp’s desperation three-point shot with 1.5 seconds to play.

It looked like the game was headed to overtime, but Orlando came out of a timeout and inbounded the ball to Johnson, who turned and tossed it straight into the hoop as the buzzer sounded.

Minnesota 66, Miami 55--Katie Smith scored 28 points to lead the Lynx (4-2) over the Sol (1-4) before 7,515 at Miami. Smith, the WNBA’s leading scorer, made 14 of 16 free throws, including eight in a row in the final eight minutes.

Minnesota won its third straight despite the absence of starting center Kristin Folkl for most of the game. Folkl banged heads with teammate Marla Brumfield three minutes in and didn’t return.

New York 70, Indiana 62--Crystal Robinson scored 14 of her 19 points in the first half before 11,009 at Indianapolis, and the Liberty extended a one-point lead into an 11-point cushion with a 13-3 run over a 6:13 stretch of the second half.

The Liberty (3-4), who made 12 of its first 15 shots in the second half, finished at 54% (27 for 50) for the game. Stephanie McCarty led Indiana (2-3) with 15 points and eight assists.

Cleveland 61, Seattle 49--Rookie Ann Wauters, a 6-foot-4 center from Belgium who was the first overall pick in the WNBA draft, scored 12 points at Cleveland as the Rockers (4-1) beat the Storm (1-5) at Cleveland.