Comets Dump Liberty in Game 1

N E W  Y O R K, Aug. 25 -- Cynthia Cooper, the two-time WNBA MVP who willretire after the playoffs, came through down the stretch to put theHouston Comets on the verge of a fourth consecutive championship.

Cooper scored 20 points, including five in the last minute, asthe Comets held off the New York Liberty 59-52 in Game 1 of theWNBA finals Thursday night.

“I always have stepped it up for the playoffs,” Cooper said.“The regular season is great and fine, but the playoffs is whereyou’re supposed to bring your ‘A’ game. And that’s what I’mdoing.”

Big Shots

Cooper, 37, shot just 7-for-23 but made some of the mostimportant baskets of her career late in the game. The Comets canbecome the first professional sports team to win four consecutivechampionships since the NHL’s New York Islanders in 1980-83.

“We’re fighting to make history,” Cooper said. “I’m on amission because we have made a lot of sacrifices throughout theseason, and deserve to fight for this fourth one. And I’m on amission because that’s what a professional athlete does at thistime of the year—elevate her game.”

Tina Thompson added 15 points and Sheryl Swoopes had 12 forHouston, which stopped the Liberty’s 13-game winning streak atMadison Square Garden and sent the best-of-three series to theCompaq Center, where the Comets have lost just once in 12postseason games.

Game 2 is Saturday at Houston, with Game 3, if necessary, thereon Sunday.

“We’re not going down there to lose, I can tell you that,”Liberty guard Becky Hammon said. “We’re going down there to win.”

Tari Phillips of New York had 24 points on 10-for-19 shootingand grabbed 15 rebounds in a game deemed by many Liberty players asa must-win.

After a sloppy first half in which both teams struggled toscore, Houston and New York turned it on in the second half.