Rockers’ Win Streak Ends
Gordana Grubin, a former Spark starter in 1999, scored a career-high 23 points as the Indiana Fever beat Cleveland, 67-63, Friday night, snapping the Rockers’ 16-game home winning streak.
Cleveland had shared the WNBA record for consecutive home victories with the Sparks.
Indiana’s reserves outscored Cleveland’s reserves, 46-6, as the Rockers lost at the Gund Arena for the first time since July 20, 2000. Cleveland (18-6) also had its seven-game overall winning streak snapped.
The Rockers charged to a 21-9 lead before a crowd of 9,981, but Indiana rallied behind its reserves.
“This is probably a good time to lose because we still have about seven or eight games left in our season, so maybe its a wake-up call for us,” said Rushia Brown, who led Cleveland with 20 points. “We needed to know that you can’t take anybody lightly.”
Indiana (8-16) outscored the Rockers, 18-6, on three-point shots and scored 22 points off 18 Cleveland turnovers. Grubin made eight of 14 shots, including two of five from three-point range.
Sacramento 85, Portland 62--Kedra Holland-Corn scored 17 points and Yolanda Griffith added 16 for the Monarchs (14-10) before 7,571 at Sacramento.
Edna Campbell finished with 15 points and Tangela Smith had 13 points, eight rebounds and four blocks for Sacramento, which made seven of its 13 three-point attempts.
Tamicha Jackson scored 12 points, and Sophia Witherspoon added nine for the Fire (11-12).
Miami 71, Orlando 63--Sandy Brondello scored 23 points as the Sol rallied from an early 10-point deficit to win in overtime before 9,052 at Miami.
Sheri Sam added 20 points and eight rebounds for the Sol (14-10). Elena Baranova had a season-high seven assists, and Debbie Black finished with five steals.
Shannon Johnson scored 14 points for Orlando (9-14).
Miami, 2-4 in overtime games, outscored Orlando, 14-6, in the extra period.
Washington 62, Minnesota 60--Chamique Holdsclaw scored on a layup with 4.2 seconds remaining to lead the Mystics before 8,979 at Minneapolis.
Holdsclaw had 22 points and 12 rebounds for Washington (7-16), which won for the second time in nine games.
Katie Smith scored 22 points for Minnesota (7-15), which has lost 10 of 12 games.
Phoenix 56, Seattle 54--Jennifer Gillom scored with 5.2 seconds left as the Mercury earned a franchise-record fifth consecutive victory before 5,278 at Seattle.
Maria Stepanova had 11 points and nine rebounds for Phoenix (11-12). Semeka Randall led the Storm (9-16) with 19 points.
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