Comets Beat Sparks, Head to WNBA Finals

I N G L E W O O D, Calif., Aug. 20, 2000 -- Being the WNBA’s best team in the

regular season, including three victories over Houston, didn’t get

the Los Angeles Sparks where they wanted to go.

Instead, the Comets advanced to their fourth consecutive WNBAfinals today with a 74-69 victory over the Sparks, whose 28-4regular-season record led the league.

“We stepped it up a level and we were able to beat a very goodteam on their home court,” said Cynthia Cooper, who scored 29points. “It was a tough game. We were felt we were underdogs.”

That’s a role the Comets have rarely played during their fouryears in the WNBA. They’ve won three league championships and willgo for a fourth beginning Thursday against either the New YorkLiberty or Cleveland Rockers, whose Eastern Conference finalsseries is tied 1-1. Game 3 is Monday night.

“Hopefully, they’ll beat up on each other,” said Houston’s Sheryl Swoopes, who was held to eight points after being sickbefore the game.

Swoopes Plays Through Sickness

Playing one year and one day after her teammate and close friendKim Perrot died of cancer, Cooper rallied the Comets to a 2-0series victory after winning Game 1 by 21 points in Houston.

“This was a huge win for us,” Swoopes said. “I don’t think we thought about what happened in the regular season. We felt we could beat them in the playoffs.”

Swoopes began vomiting after arriving at the Forum, then gotdizzy and had a headache.

“There was never a question I wasn’t going to be out there,” she said.

Janeth Arcain added 18 points for the Comets, including theirfinal five. Her running jumper snapped a 69-all tie with 39 secondsremaining. She then made three of four free throws to close out thegame.

“Arcain is a star in Brazil and comes here and plays any roleshe has to,” Cooper said.

Sparks Fall Short

Mwadi Mabika led the Sparks with 19 points and Tamecka Dixonadded 17, while Lisa Leslie had 12 points and 14 rebounds.

“I loved our effort,” said Sparks coach Michael Cooper, whowas honored as WNBA coach of the year before the game. “There were some things that we could have done, some shots that didn’t go inthat normally fall, but that’s the way it goes.”

In their deathly quiet locker room, several Sparks playerscovered their heads with their hands. Houston coach Van Chancellordropped in and silently shook hands with the Sparks.

“We feel like we did a great job this year and we just reallylost to a very good team,” Leslie said. “We followed what weneeded to for Sheryl and Cynthia to distribute the ball to otherplayers and the other players played well. They took shots theynormally don’t take and made shots they normally don’t make.”

Big Finish

Neither team led by more than four points in the second half ofa game played in front of 13,884 raucous fans at the Forum.

“Their fans showed up and tried to make a difference and almostdid,” Chancellor said. “This is a great win for us, especiallyafter they won all three games. That’s the happiest I’ve seen them in the locker room. I don’t know if they were that happy after wewon the championship.”

Trailing by four points, the Comets scored seven straight pointsto take a 67-64 lead with 3:42 remaining. Swoopes hit a 3-pointer —only her third basket of the game — Tammy Jackson scored inside andCooper scored on a fastbreak driving layup.

Dixon hit her second straight 3-pointer to tie the game at 67.Cooper had a behind-the-back pass stolen by Dixon, who then missed.Cooper scored easily when the Sparks were slow getting back ondefense for a 69-67 lead. Allison Feaster tied the game once more,but the Sparks didn’t score in the final minute.