Sparks Score Big in Easy Victory
The Sparks have had the WNBA’s best record for more than two weeks now. But the last couple of games they have played as though they deserve it.
In front of an ear-splitting crowd of 18,997, mostly preteens for the annual Camp Day game, the Sparks rolled to their second straight lopsided home win, 96-76, over the Washington Mystics at Staples Center on Wednesday.
The Sparks (16-7) gave the crowd plenty of reasons to keep the arena noise at rock-concert levels. All five starters finished in double figures, led by 21 points from Mwadi Mabika (who also had a team-high seven assists) and 18 points from Lisa Leslie. Rookie forward Laura Macchi had her best game in the WNBA, 16 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
It was the Sparks’ highest point total this season, edging the 95 points they scored against Washington on May 25.
Alana Beard and Chasity Melvin each had 16 points for Washington (9-12), and Chamique Holdsclaw had 15. But the Sparks held the Mystics, who lost their third straight game, to 37.5% field-goal shooting while making 50.8% of their shots, and outrebounded Washington, 40-33. Most important, after making eight of their first 10 shots and establishing a 21-6 lead in the first five minutes, the Sparks never let their lead get under double digits. Washington got as close as 11, trailing, 50-39, at the half, and were down by as many as 24 points in the second half.
“That has been our biggest challenge the whole year -- just being consistent on the floor and being mentally tough,” Spark Co-Coach Karleen Thompson said.
“We have a killer instinct. It’s there in the players we have. It takes a lot for [Co-Coach] Ryan [Weisenberg] and I to keep pulling that out of them. But they have it. These players know what to do already.”
Said Tamecka Dixon, who had 12 points and six assists: “We’re in a pretty good rhythm now. Just putting two good halves together is the key for us, I think. Even when we were winning before, we were only playing about 25-30 minutes, then have a couple of lapses.”
The only thing to temper the Sparks’ giddy mood was the loss of rookie center Christi Thomas, who suffered a sprained right ankle in the first half and had to be carried off the floor. X-rays taken at Staples Center were negative. Thomas, who had seven points before being injured, was scheduled to have an MRI exam on the ankle Wednesday evening.
“I can’t catch a break,” said Thomas, who also has a tissue strain in her foot. “At least it’s not broken. I could have sworn it was broken when it happened. All I know was my leg was touching the ground and my ankle was out to the side.”
Washington Coach Michael Adams received two technical fouls and was ejected with 5:12 left in the first half for arguing whether he had made a legal substitution.
“You try to get one tech to get some calls for your team, but then they threw me out for arguing my player being at the scorer’s table,” Adams said. “I don’t know how they can kick me out without giving me a warning.... I made the point she was [properly] at the scorer’s table and said it was ridiculous they wouldn’t let her in. I may have also thrown out some magic words, but that had to do with us not getting any calls at the beginning of the game.
“But we didn’t help ourselves, anyway, by the way we played.”