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7.8.2002 by: Sashya Waterman The Sparks began their second meeting with the Comets with a one game lead over a Houston team streaking on the resurgence of the leading All-Star vote-getter SHERYL SWOOPES. The physical play that started the game surely suggests a bitter rivalry. Rookie Spark NIKKI TEASLEY was sent to the ground and so shaken up that she had to sit out for awhile. MVP Lisa Leslie couldn’t make it out of the first half without 3 personal foul and it turned out that this was only a small indicator of Leslie’s less-than-MVP caliber performance. She scored only 7 points in 32 minutes of play, prompting her coach to claim that it was her worse game in the 3 years since he’s been involved with the team. Even though the Sparks had a 9 point lead with less than 9 minutes to play the Comets came to battle for 40 minutes and lead by 2 points with less than 4 minutes remaining in the game. From that point on the lead went back and forth and due to a missed rebound on a errant free-throw by Swoopes, the Sparks lost their chance to set up a play and send the game into overtime. They had to foul Swoopes and send her back to the line where she wouldn’t miss again. The Comets defeated the Sparks 60-58. So far the Sparks and Comets have split their meetings for the season and the race for the best in the west tightened with Houston only a half game behind Los Angeles. The Sparks would look to a home game versus the last-place SACRAMENTO MONARCHS to redeem themselves and get some breathing room against Houston. Immediately, they did just that. The Sparks scored 14 fast-break points to none for the Monarchs. Picture it, LATASHA BYEARS goes goal-to-goal for a lay-up, Dixon dribbles the sideline and passes it to Leslie for the high-percentage shot. Yes, it was pretty! LA’s women of basketball earned their money that night. 3-point specialist and former Monarch SOPHIA WITHERSPOON hit her mark and was high scorer for the Sparks in the first half in only 10 minutes of play. At half-time the Sparks led by 21 points and by the end of the game all of the Sparks played and 10 out of 11 scored. The Sparks won 87-65. The Sparks knew that a meeting with third place UTAH STARZZ would be challenging and they came pumped up and prepared. It was Leslie’s 30th birthday and she was ready to assert her MVP presence. Leslie began the game by connecting on three quick jump shots, including a 3-pointer, and her teammates followed her lead by hitting 10 of 16 from downtown. Similar to the victory over the Monarchs, the Sparks made this formidable Starzz team look like a bunch of scrubs from the streets. Even though both teams had 17 turnovers, the Sparks scored 29 points off them to only 18 for the Starzz. The elated crowd of over 10,000 at Staples Center wondered if the Sparks would win by 30 for Lisa’s 30th birthday. Instead, the Sparks surpassed the century mark to tie their franchise record for points scored and beat the Starzz 102-75. After bouncing back from a heartbreaking loss to the HOUSTON COMETS that ended their home undefeated regular season winning streak at Staples Center with victories over the SACRAMENTO MONARCHS and the UTAH STARZZ. The ladies will face 2 more western conference opponents on the road at Seattle and Portland before Coach MICHAEL COOPER, LISA LESLIE, TAMECKA DIXON and MWADI MABIKA head to the MCI CENTER in Washington, DC for the 2002 WNBA ALL-STAR GAME. June 27, 2002* The World Champion LOS ANGELES SPARKS led by as many as 17 points in the first half and it seemed as if the WASHINGTON MYSTICS would not score 20 points in the first 20 minutes. Then, the up-and-coming Mystics cut the lead to 10 at half time. The scoreboard read 40-30 Sparks. The second half began with more of the Mystics effective defense and consistent offense and they tied the game with a little less than 5 minutes remaining in the game. The game was tied and the Mystics went ahead by one on a 3 point play by MURIEL PAGE, Staples Center was concerned but COACH MICHAEL COOPER simply called a momentum halting timeout and told his team, "let’s go". By using championship poise the Sparks tied the game at 69 and hit 4 clutch free throws to win their 6th home game for the season. *Our webmaster will be on vacation all next week. Please return July 8th for the latest Sparks news. Happy 4th of July! June 21, 2002 by: Sashya Waterman Hey, the LOS ANGELES SPARKS have won nine out of ten games and they are an incredible 19-0 for the regular season at the home they share with the 3-time World Champion Los Angeles Lakers, STAPLES CENTER. In addition to their outstanding home record, the Sparks take it to teams when they travel. Recently the Sparks met last season’s Western Conference Finals rivals, the SACRAMENTO MONARCHS. The Monarchs challenged the Sparks, leading by as many as twelve, before guard TAMECKA DIXON drained a 3 to top off the eight points she scored in a 9-0 rally and sent the game into overtime. The Sparks went on to start the extra five minutes with a 10-2 run and took the game from their northern opponents. After a dramatic win against eighth placed Sacramento, the Sparks faced another northern opponent, the SEATTLE STORM, without All-star center LISA LESLIE. Leslie did not play in the game because of flu-like symptoms. Teammates DELISHA MILTON and MWADI MABIKA took up the offensive slack and combined to score 43 points and secure 18 rebounds in an 80-68 win against the .500 Storm. The Sparks returned to their own hardwood to face KATIE SMITH and the MINNESOTA LYNX. The Lynx made a worthy opponent by playing good defense and keeping in the game on Smith’s game-high 27 points. The Sparks fired up Staples on the night that Mabika received the WNBA Community Assist Award for excellence off the court and urged the over 9000 fans in attendance to log on to wnba.com and vote for their favorite lady all-star. After a half-time that promoted all-star voting, the Sparks trailed by 2 points and fans began to worry about the home-winning streak. But there would be no need to worry because LA’s got the best player and the best coach in the league. Leslie made consecutive shots, one from that sweet spot under the basket and one from her new found range just short of the arc that sent the crowd into a frenzy. And LATASHA BYEARS showed off her new shot by hitting a jumper from the free-throw line. Although they trailed by nine points during the second half, the Lynx continued to battle the Sparks and they capitalized on Leslie’s absence and cut the lead to one point. Leslie made good on 4 free-throws down the stretch and the Sparks defeated the Lynx 73-66. 6.12.2002 by: Sashya Waterman In a 4-point road win against the MINNESOTA LYNX on Sunday, MWADI MABIKA scored a team high 21 points and grabbed 7 rebounds along with Leslie and LATASHA BYEARS. However, free throw shooting worried the coach. Although the team shot 88%, LISA LESLIE went 2 for 7 from the charity stripe in the victory. The SPARKS recovered nicely in Tuesday’s game connecting on 85% of their freebies. Rookie NIKKI TEASLEY leads the team in precision hitting 87% from the line. After Tuesday’s rout of the lowly DETROIT SHOCK, basketball-master Michael Cooper claimed, "this was a good overall win and when that happens everybody has fun." Well, maybe not the 0-7 Shock. But certainly the Los Angeles Sparks feel great about keeping their home-winning streak alive at 25. Tuesday night’s matchup played out similar to the games between the LOS ANGELES LAKERS and the NEW JERSEY NETS. The coach felt, "we started the game off well and got to play everybody. Tonight set a good pace for us." When asked how he keeps his team motivated when facing lesser opponents, the coach answered, "our goal is to stay intense and play at a level that makes team come up to our level of play." TAMECKA DIXON finds her intensity in the team, "our motivation lies within and that’s what keeps us strong. If we continue to get better within ourselves as a team than no one team can beat us." Mwadi knows that even losing teams want to defeat the champs, "we don’t want to lose so we just play our game tough because we know they’d be happy to beat us." Unfortunately, the Shock fell well below the Sparks level and lost the game by misleading 10 points. The Sparks led by 20 plus points at one time during the game. They defeated the Shock in all percentages: field goals (57 to 40), threes (77 to 26), free throws (86 to 82). Plus, the Sparks out rebounded the Shock by 5. Lisa Leslie shared the game high score of 18 with DELISHA MILTON off the bench and the Shock’s DEANNA NOLAN.
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SPARKS OFF TO GREAT START
WITHERSPOON. The coach said about his new squad, "it can get a lot better than this. Once Teasley gets in the flow of getting her shots within the offense. Sophia Witherspoon was a big steal for us and she’s paid big dividends. To hit big shots and play good, hard-nosed defense."
players that show real emotion and enthusiasm and love for the game. You gotta respect that and I love them for that and for them
to put it up there almost brought a tear to my eye," said an emotional coach. Obviously, the team used the opening ceremony as inspiration to take it to the NEW YORK LIBERTY with a win.
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