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Monday, Jul. 31 7:30pm ET
Milton fuels Sparks to historic win | |||||
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BOX SCORE
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Lisa Leslie had 14 second-half points as the Los Angeles Sparks overcame a slow start Monday night and pulled away from the Minnesota Lynx for a 73-66 victory. DeLisha Milton scored 18 points to lead the Sparks, who have won a league-record nine straight on the road to improve to 25-3 overall. Minnesota (13-14) got 20 points from Betty Lennox and 16 from Katie Smith, but the Lynx defenders were unable to stop Leslie's dominance under the basket. "They went with four perimeter players to isolate Lisa Leslie," said Minnesota coach Brian Agler. "For a while we could get it guarded, but then we broke down." Milton added career-highs with 14 rebounds and six assists. It was a personal rebound for Milton, who had been frustrated during her last meeting with Minnesota a few weeks ago. "I didn't play a very good game the last time we saw them," said Milton. "I got frustrated and complained to the officials. They play very aggressively and can get you frustrated. Tonight I didn't complain, and just played my game." The game was tied with just over three minutes to play when the Sparks switched to a zone defense and seemed to confuse the Minnesota shooters. After a free throw and a layup put L.A. ahead by three, the Lynx turned the ball over twice in the final minute and were unable to rally. "When they made that defensive switch, it changed the pace of the game for us," said Smith. "We came down on offense and kind of panicked, looking to see what (defense) they were in. That slowed us down quite a bit. They know how to win and how to finish things off." After falling behind early, Minnesota went on a 14-0 tear and led by as many as 13 in the first half. Despite turning the ball over several times, Sparks coach Michael Cooper said that his team remained calm. "We have too much character and poise to get rattled that early in the game," said Cooper. "We knew Minnesota was going to hit some shots and we'd have to weather a storm." Los Angeles, which was held without a field goal for nearly six minutes, hit just six of its first 25 shots before ending the half on a 12-4 run. "I think that we sent the other team a message that they had given it their best shot and we were still standing," said Leslie of the run. Mwadi Mabika keyed the run for the Sparks, hitting two 3-pointers and tinishing a fastbreak with a layup. Lynx forward Smith, who set a WNBA season record for three-pointers in her previous outing, was just 3-for-12 in the first half and missed her first three shots from beyond the arc. She finished 1-for-5 from three-point range. "I still had a lot of good looks in the first half and saw a lot of them go in and out," said Smith. | ALSO SEE WNBA Scoreboard RECAPS Cleveland 76 Detroit 65
Los Angeles 73 AUDIO/VIDEO   Mwadi Mabika gets the ball from Nicky McCrimmon on the break.avi: 830 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Marla Brumfield scores two off the fast-break.avi: 958 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | |||||