Mabika Leads Sparks
Mwadi Mabika’s finger was a little crooked, but her shot stayed pretty straight.
Mabika scored 13 of her 15 points after dislocating an index finger, and Lisa Leslie had 14 points before fouling out to lead the Sparks to a 63-50 victory over the Cleveland Rockers on Saturday before 10,420 at Cleveland.
Mabika played only four minutes in the first half, when she dislocated the finger on her shooting hand while on defense. But the Sparks’ leading scorer returned after halftime with it taped and scored 11 points in a seven-minute span when the Sparks blew it open.
“They popped it back into place,” Mabika said. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to shoot very much with it.”
Mabika made five of eight shots in the second half.
“She stepped up for us,” said Leslie, who played on a sore ankle. “She was afraid to shoot because of her finger. And we were like, ‘Wadi, still go strong.’ She did a great job of getting me the ball inside and taking control of the game.”
Leslie fouled out with 7:46 remaining, but by then the Sparks had a 19-point lead.
Rookie Nikki Teasley had 14 points, seven rebounds and eight assists for the Sparks (17-4), who went 3-2 on this road trip.
“This was an important win for us because of the game in New York,” Mabika said. “We needed this game so bad after that loss. I can’t wait to get home.”
The Rockers shot just 26% from the floor and lost their fourth consecutive home game.
Penny Taylor scored 11 points--on three-for-14 shooting--to lead Cleveland, and Merlakia Jones had nine points and nine rebounds.
The Rockers made only two of 24 shots during a stretch when the Sparks turned a five-point deficit into a 20-point lead.
“We made them take tough shots, but offensively, we couldn’t get anything going,” said Rocker guard Jennifer Rizzotti. “And that really hurt us in the second half. When they started to pull away, we started to force some things.”
The Rockers led, 23-18, in the first half before making five turnovers and missing six consecutive shots as the Sparks scored seven straight points to lead, 25-23, at the break.
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In other WNBA games, Marie Ferdinand scored 21 points and Margo Dydek sparked a late surge to give the Utah Starzz an 83-73 victory over the Washington Mystics before 16,477 at Washington.... Swin Cash scored 11 points and Astou Ndiaye-Diatta had 10 as the Detroit Shock beat the Miami Sol, 69-48, before 5,984 at Auburn Hills, Mich. Detroit Coach Bill Laimbeer was ejected after receiving his second technical foul with 4:07 left.... Janeth Arcain’s basket from the top of the key with less than two seconds remaining gave the Houston Comets a 56-54 victory over the Seattle Storm before 9,686 at Seattle. Sheryl Swoopes had made a free throw on a technical foul by the Storm’s Michelle Marciniak to tie it.