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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
HOUSTON (AP) -- The Houston Comets hadn't officially finished off
the Sacramento Monarchs in the first round of the WNBA playoffs
before their eager fans were looking to the next round.
Sheryl Swoopes scored a career playoff-high 27 points as the
three-time WNBA champion Comets advanced to the Western Conference
finals with a 75-70 victory over the Monarchs on Monday night.
|  | | Houston Comets star Sheryl Swoopes (right), who scored a career playoff-high 27 to lead her team to victory, applies some defense to Sacramento's Ruthie Bolton-Holifield on Monday. |
Chants of "Beat LA! Beat LA!" filled the Compaq Center during
the final seconds as the Comets swept the best-of-three series and
will play host to the Los Angeles Sparks on Thursday night in the first
game of the conference finals.
"They beat us here the last game, so our fans are already
chanting to beat LA," Swoopes said. "Our fans are going to feed
off that. It's going to be good for us."
The Sparks beat the Comets in all three regular season games,
but Sacramento coach Sonny Allen is sticking by his preseason
prediction: The Comets will win their fourth WNBA title in a row.
"I said it before the season and I'm sticking to it," Allen
said. "Yeah, they (LA) beat the Comets in the regular season but
they haven't played them for the championship yet."
Tina Thompson scored seven of her 21 points in the final 2:37 to
clinch it. Thompson was 6-for-7 on free throws and grabbed 14
rebounds. Cynthia Cooper added 16 points.
"They did what they were supposed to do, set the tone and be
aggressive," Thompson said. "They had to do something or sit for
the summer. They tried to test us but we weathered the storm."
Ruthie Bolton-Holifield led the Monarchs with 23 points and
Yolanda Griffith scored 18 points and had 10 rebounds.
Swoopes led a 17-2 charge in the first half that gave the Comets
an eight-point lead at 31-23, but Sacramento closed the gap to
38-37 at halftime.
Sacramento took a 46-40 lead early in the second half, but the
Comets pulled ahead for good 53-52 on a full-court pass from
Swoopes to Cynthia Cooper for a layup with 12 minutes to play.
"The Houston Comets were the difference in the game," Allen
said. "We played good but to beat the best, there is not much
margin for error."
Led by Bolton-Holifield with 11 first-half points, the Monarchs
jumped ahead early and held a 21-14 lead midway in the period
before Swoopes took over.
"We didn't do the little things down the stretch and it's the
little things that win championships," Griffith said. "We came
out very loose tonight even though everyone said that our backs
were up against the wall.
"They had all the pressure on them and that is why we came out
loose and played probably the best game that we played all year."
Swoopes led the Comets' 17-2 run with eight straight points as
the Comets took a 31-23 lead with 6:59 left in the half.
"We played with them the whole game but in the end we made some
mistakes and gave in to their defense," Sacramento guard Ticha
Penicheiro said. "We feel that we have the talent to beat anyone
on any given night. But Houston has a great number of very good
role players and I still think they are the team to beat."
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