Sparks Finish Their Show on the Road With a Sweep

For Spark partisans, here’s the good news: The Sparks on Wednesday night won for the seventh consecutive time, completing a sweep of their four-game trip with an 82-73 victory over the WNBA expansion Indiana Fever.

Here’s even better news: Eight of the Sparks’ next nine games are at the Great Western Forum.

That won’t be an easy stretch, seven of those nine teams are above .500, but the Sparks (11-2), playing without starting guard Tamecka Dixon, did get a break Wednesday night against the Fever (3-9).

Los Angeles had a 40-32 halftime lead before 11,697 at Conseco Fieldhouse, then put away the Fever with a 15-3 burst to start the second half.

After the Sparks rolled up a 55-35 lead, Coach Michael Cooper used the opportunity to check out a half-dozen combinations, with each player getting at least 11 minutes playing time, but said afterward he wasn’t entirely happy.

“We should have put this team away a lot earlier than we did,” Cooper said. “I hope we don’t fall into a comfort zone when we get big leads like this.”

Mwadi Mabika led the Sparks with 19 points. DeLisha Milton added 11 and Clarisse Machanguana 10. Monica Maxwell scored 29 points for Indiana, which made only 36% (22 for 61) of its shots.

Dixon was out because of a sprained ankle she injured late in the victory at Washington Monday. She said she should be able to play Saturday against Cleveland at the Forum.

Lisa Leslie continued to be pivotal for the Sparks, as she has been on every game on the trip. Although she made only two of 11 shots, she got herself to the line to make nine of 10 free throws and finished with her 44th career double-double (13 rebounds, 13 points).

Leslie also came within an inch or two of a dunk. With 8:24 to go in the first half, guard Nicky McCrimmon, off a steal, passed to Leslie who had a clear breakaway to the hoop. From the right side, she leaped and pinned the ball on the rim and missed it. Her only previous dunk try was in the first WNBA game, the 1997 opener.

“I was coming in on the right side, not my normal side, but I decided to try it,” Leslie said.

“I just didn’t have the legs for it, I guess.”

Added Cooper: “Lisa’s our captain. She can try a dunk any time she wants. At least she didn’t fall down trying, like I did once.”

Next his team has its longest stretch of home games. The Sparks play Cleveland Saturday and Detroit Sunday at the Forum, travel to Sacramento for a July 5 game, then play Washington, Utah, Portland, Houston, Minnesota and New York at home.

“It’ll be great to hear people yelling for us, for a change,” Cooper said, “but again, I don’t want us falling into a comfort zone.”

Actually, the Sparks had lots of partisans at Conseco. Ukari Figgs, the point guard for Purdue when the Boilermakers won the NCAA title last year, had a thousand or so cheering her every move.

And Figgs responded with a career-high nine assists, with three points.

Her Purdue backcourt teammate, Indiana’s Stephanie McCarty, had no assists and three points.

Former Spark guard Gordana Grubin, picked up by Indiana in this spring’s expansion draft, played 22 minutes off the bench, finishing with eight points and two assists. Grubin has been bothered by an ankle injury.

It was Indiana’s fifth consecutive loss, fourth straight at home.