Win Streak Comes to End for Sparks

SALT LAKE CITY — The Streak is over.

Now the Sparks have to prove they’ve grown enough as a team to get over it.

At least they will no longer have to talk about their WNBA record winning streak, which came to an end at 18 games Monday as the Utah Starzz nudged past the Sparks in overtime, 80-78, before 11,519 at the Delta Center.

Adrienne Goodson’s four-foot bank shot rattled around and dropped through the basket with one-tenth of a second left for the winning points. She led five Starzz players in double figures with 21.

The win kept alive Utah’s hopes to finish third in the Western Conference. They need Houston to lose at Phoenix tonight for that to happen. Otherwise, the Sparks and Starzz will meet here in the first round of the playoffs on Friday.

In losing for the first time since June 24 in New York, the Sparks dropped to 27-4. They can equal their 28-4 record of last season by defeating Portland tonight.

“Maybe it’s a good thing we have back-to-back games,” said Tamecka Dixon, who led all scorers with 24 points. “We won’t have long to think about this one.”

They won’t want to think about how they were outhustled and outplayed most of the game by the Starzz, who needed the win more than the Sparks did.

They won’t want to remember how they were outrebounded 40-37, how Utah scorched them with a 19-6 run at the end of the first half, or how a 13-2 run put Utah ahead by its biggest margin, 59-46, with 12:28 to play.

Yet despite shooting 33 of 74 from the field, (eight of 25 from three-point range) and making only four free throws, the Sparks fought back to tie the score at 74 on Dixon’s layup with 13 seconds in regulation.

Utah rookie Marie Ferdinand (14 points) thought she had the game winning layup, but Lisa Leslie--who had a subpar night with 11 points--blocked it. Ukari Figgs ran the ball up court, and fed it back to Leslie for an open shot. It missed as the buzzer sounded.

“I think we didn’t do a lot of things well tonight and we were still in the game,” Dixon said. “I think Utah played the best it could play.”

“I thought we were going to win it in regulation,” Spark Coach Michael Cooper said. “This team is a very disciplined team, and it fought it’s way back from a deep, deep hole. Utah had to play a near perfect game, which it did.

“We came here to win. And even though our streak is broken, we still have our main goal in hand--to win the WNBA championship. Which we will.”

The Sparks, who never led in overtime, also had their chance to win. With the scored tied 78-78 and 9.2 seconds to play, Leslie was fouled by Starzz center Margo Dydek. A 75% free-throw shooter at the start of the game, Leslie missed both attempts.

“I certainly didn’t go to the line thinking I would miss two,” Leslie said. “But neither shot felt good leaving my hands.”

Latasha Byears grabbed the offensive rebound and went back up with a shot, but Dydek blocked it, one of six she had in the game.

The ball went to Goodson, who roared down the court with teammate Jennifer Azzi on her right wing. Figgs had to respect Azzi’s three-point prowess and never came forward to stop Goodson’s drive.

Her shot did keep alive one streak.

For the third time in three years, Utah has played the Sparks in its final game of the regular season. Utah has won all three.

“It’s always a great last regular-season game with L.A.,” Starzz Coach Candi Harvey said.

The Sparks beg to differ.

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