Sparks come up short on the road

Six games into her tenure with the Phoenix Mercury, Tameka Johnson has the Mercury’s run-and-gun style figured out.

Its opponents are having a hard time dealing with it.

Johnson scored 18 points and Cappie Pondexter had 21 as the Mercury defeated the Sparks, 89-80, on Friday night.

The combination of Johnson and Pondexter was the difference in the fourth quarter as the Mercury used an 11-2 run at the 2:20 mark to break open a 78-75 lead for a 12-point advantage, 89-77, with 28.7 seconds remaining.

“We had about three easy looks at the basket in which they came over the top and blocked,” Sparks Coach Michael Cooper said. “We were not concentrating enough or not tough enough. When they’re making those runs, you have got to score and we weren’t able to score.”

Betty Lennox led the Sparks with 16 points and DeLisha Milton-Jones had 15 points and eight rebounds. Tina Thompson had nine points and 14 rebounds.

The Sparks, already without forward Candace Parker (maternity leave), lost center Lisa Leslie to a right hip bruise with 1:33 remaining in the first quarter and she never returned. Cooper said she is listed as day to day.