Sparks Take First Misstep
When the Sparks and Houston Comets took the floor here Thursday, the roar from the crowd was as much relief as it was delight.
Basketball, WNBA style, was back in the Compaq Center for the first time in two weeks. The arena was devastated by torrential rains on June 9 that poured more than four feet of water into the Center’s lower level, destroying offices and locker rooms, electrical, mechanical and medical equipment, and all of the Comets’ team equipment.
And the return was sweeter for Houston, which upended Los Angeles, 69-65, before 9,918. The loss was the first for the Sparks, who opened the season with a record nine consecutive wins.
Houston (6-1), playing for the first time since June 10, was led by forward Tina Thompson with a career-high 29 points. But guard Janeth Arcain (17 points) won the game for Houston, making a turnaround jumper with 22 seconds to play. It put Houston ahead, 64-63, and the Sparks never caught up.
Even with the forced break, the four-time defending WNBA champions have won six in a row since losing the season opener to Los Angeles here on Memorial Day.
Lisa Leslie paced the Sparks with 17 points and 14 rebounds.
The loss wasn’t as hard on Coach Michael Cooper as the fall he took before the game. Cooper said was walking up a small set of stairs to the Sparks’ temporary trailer, carrying a team bag, didn’t notice the stairs were not properly aligned with the trailer, and stepped through the opening.
The fall severely bruised his left thigh. Cooper received treatment from the the Comet team physician, declined to go to a hospital and watched the first half from the trailer. Assistant Glenn McDonald took over the bench duties.
Cooper rejoined the team for the second half.
“It’s a tough loss to take,” Cooper said, “but if someone had said we would be 9-1 at this point of the season, I would be very happy with one loss.
“The ladies played tough tonight. Extremely tough. I was happy with the effort. There were a couple of things we didn’t do at the end execution-wise, but they could have rolled over and let this one get away early.”
Spark guard Ukari Figgs, who scored 12 points, thought Los Angeles did let the game get away.
“We didn’t execute well all game,” Figgs said. “We played in spurts. If we had done things we needed to do early in the game, it would not have come down to the last couple of plays.”
But the game was almost inconsequential to the fact the facility was able to host it.
Arena officials spent 10 days pumping out water and using five industrial dehumidifiers to dry it out. They had to tear out all the damaged wood and wall boards, and two rows of seats. The past three days were to begin rebuilding the damaged areas, and restore the electricity.
“We’ve been replacing every motor, pump, engine, transformer, and electrical circuit,” said Jerry MacDonald, the arena general manager. “The lower level is going to be a brand new building.”
Some estimates put the damage to the arena at $11 million, but MacDonald said that sounded a little high. “It’s safe to say it’s in the millions,” he said.
The Robbins Sport Service, a Cincinnati company that supplies most of the NBA and WNBA floors, sent a loaner floor to Houston. And the arena staff set out 1,000 chairs loaned from the El Paso Civic Center.
Both teams got their first look at the arena during their Thursday morning shoot-arounds.
“We didn’t know what to expect,” the Sparks’ DeLisha Milton said. “When we first got off the bus you could smell the water; it was like dirty mop water. But once we got inside it was very clean. You couldn’t really tell what was damaged.”
Houston will have to play six games in the next 10 days to catch up with the rest of the league. But Thompson said the forced break gave the Comet veterans a chance to jell with the younger players.
“We spent a lot of time working on ourselves,” Thompson said. “But we were eager to play. You can spend just so much time practicing and watching video tape.”
In other WNBA games:
Tari Phillips had 23 points and Becky Hammon added 21 to lead the New York Liberty (7-3) to a 95-70 victory over the Mercury (4-6) before 8,638 at Phoenix. . . . Kedra Holland-Corn scored a career-high 26 points, and Yolanda Griffith added 14 points and 14 rebounds as the Sacramento Monarchs (5-5) defeated the Utah Starzz (3-4), 87-75, before 6,541 at Salt Lake City. . . . Sandy Brondello scored 18 points and had six assists to help the Miami Sol (5-3) end a three-game losing streak with a 74-63 victory over the Mystics (2-6) before 12,815 at Washington.
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THE STREAK . . . ENDS
A look at how the Sparks have opened the season:
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Date Opponent Score May 28 at Houston W, 66-63 June 1 at Orlando W, 68-62 June 2 at Charlotte W, 76-67 June 5 Cleveland W, 58-50 June 9 at Minnesota W, 62-60 June 14 Orlando W, 84-68 June 16 at Seattle W, 73-60 June 17 Portland W, 90-75 June 19 Charlotte W, 73-69 June 21 at Houston L, 69-65
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