Comets Chalk Up Seventh Straight

The Houston Comets, playing their second game after a 10-day layoff because of flood damage at the Compaq Center, extended their winning streak to seven Saturday with a 70-56 victory over the Sacramento Monarchs at Houston.

The Comets (7-1) were riding the momentum of a 69-65 victory Thursday over the Sparks that ended L.A.’s league-record nine-game winning streak. Houston’s only loss was to L.A. in its opener.

“With two straight wins over Los Angeles and now Sacramento, it doesn’t get any better than that,” Comet Coach Van Chancellor said. “We simply played our hearts out.”

Tina Thompson scored 12 of her 21 points in the first half, when the Comets came back from a 20-10 deficit before a home crowd of 10,722. Janeth Arcain finished with 18 points for Houston. Ruthie Bolton-Holifield had 15 points for Sacramento (5-6).

Utah 87, Minnesota 80--Kate Starbird’s career-high 21 points and rookie Marie Ferdinand’s career-high 19 points on six-for-seven shooting fueled the Starzz (4-4) before 5,938 at Salt Lake City.

Katie Smith finished with 27 points for Minnesota (3-5), which got 15 points in 25 minutes from rookie Svetlana Abrosimova.

Orlando 67, Washington 59--Elaine Powell scored a career-high 20 points and had eight rebounds as the Miracle (3-6) won before 8,079 at Orlando, Fla. Chamique Holdsclaw had 18 points for the Mystics (2-7).

Indiana 74, Detroit 70--Olympia Scott-Richardson scored 11 of her 15 points in the second half and Rita Williams sank four free throws in the final minutes as the Fever (4-6) won before 5,459 at Auburn Hills, Mich. It was Indiana’s second victory over Detroit (3-6) in a 24-hour span. Friday, Scott-Richardson, who was traded by Detroit to Indiana, had a double-double in the Fever’s victory.