Sparks End 2-Game Skid
The Sparks got a stellar performance from Mwadi Mabika and a highly productive 32 minutes from Tamecka Dixon on Saturday night, running up a hefty lead on the Portland Fire and then choking off two second-half Fire rallies.
The result, a 94-81 victory that ended a two-game losing streak, affirmed Coach Michael Cooper’s take on his team’s up-and-down energy level.
On a night when WNBA all-stars Lisa Leslie and DeLisha Milton were in foul trouble, Mabika scored 26 points, making all 11 of her free throws, and Dixon scored 24. Their production was more than enough to give the Sparks (5-2) their second victory of the season over the Fire (1-6). The margin was 70-57 on June 6 at the Forum.
Mabika, a 23-year-old from Congo, had been struggling with her shot and her rebounding but broke out of her slump before 8,703 in the Rose Garden.
She had 17 points in the first half, propelling the Sparks to a 50-40 halftime lead, and finished with a game-high 10 rebounds and two steals.
When Portland was desperately trying to catch up in the final three minutes, she made four consecutive free throws. Portland closed to within 52-48 early in the second half, but Mabika choked that off with two free throws and a three-point basket.
“Mwadi had been really struggling with her game,” Cooper said. “I’m more happy with her rebound effort tonight than I am with her points. She’s a superstar, she’s on the all-star ballot, and players like that are supposed to step up to the plate.”
Cooper, with Milton, Leslie, Dixon, Nicky McCrimmon and Clarisse Machanguana finishing the game with five fouls each, played eight players at least 10 minutes each.
“We finished this game like I wanted them to,” Cooper said. “This team’s Achilles’ heel is not bringing a high energy level to every game. When we do that like tonight, we’re a good team.”
Milton, who was in early foul trouble and played only 17 minutes, agreed.
“This is the first time we put the lid on a game,” she said. “We hadn’t finished well. We’d get there--and then something would happen, a turnover or something.”
The Sparks maintained an eight- to 10-point lead for most of the first half, then a Fire rally nearly snuffed it all out. Former Stanford power forward Vanessa Nygaard (16 points) made two three-point baskets in less than a minute and then got a putback and a free throw to cut the deficit to 44-38 with 1:41 to play.
Guard Tully Bevilaqua’s two free throws made the score 44-40, but then the Sparks finished the half in revved-up style.
In the last 51 seconds, Dixon made an eight-footer, Ukari Figgs made two free throws and Figgs drained a 16-footer to give the Sparks a 50-40 lead at halftime.
Notes
Former Spark guard Jamila Wideman, now on Portland’s injured list, will enter New York University’s law school next fall. She played last winter in Israel, suffering a sprained ankle that has yet to heal. . . . Among the loudest ovations in pregame starting lineup announcements was for the Sparks’ DeLisha Milton, a favorite in Portland from her Portland Power ABL days. . . . Rookie center Paige Sauer didn’t travel because of a sore back.