Charlotte’s Win Bolsters Playoff Hopes

WNBA

The Charlotte Sting got something better than an attendance record Saturday.

Andrea Stinson upstaged WNBA scoring leader Cynthia Cooper with a 25-point performance and Charlotte enhanced its bid to secure the league’s fourth and final playoff spot with an 80-71 victory over the visiting Houston Comets.

Rhonda Mapp added 17 points and eight rebounds and Andrea Congreaves scored 14 for the Sting in front of a raucous gathering of 18,937 at the Charlotte Coliseum, the largest crowd in the history of women’s pro basketball. The turnout broke the record of 17,780, set June 29 when Phoenix played at New York in a WNBA game.

With one week left in the regular season, the Sting have won 7 of 10, moving 1 games ahead of Cleveland in the race for the last postseason berth.

Houston’s Sheryl Swoopes scored 20 points, all in the second half.

Sting 80, Comets 71 At Charlotte

Houston (71) - Arcain 4-11 2-3 10, Thompson 5-13 5-6 16, Guyton 2-5 0-0 4, Cooper 5-12 5-6 17, Perrot 0-5 0-0 0, Swoopes 9-13 0-0 20, Woosley 0-1 0-0 0, Jackson 1-2 2-2 4, Harris 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 26-64 14-19 71.

Charlotte (80) - Bullett 2-9 5-6 9, Congreaves 5-7 2-3 14, Mapp 6-8 5-6 17, Levesque 2-5 0-0 5, Stinson 11-18 1-2 25, Suber 0-1 0-0 0, Moore 2-4 1-2 6, Manning 2-2 0-2 4. Totals 30-54 14-21 80.

Halftime-Charlotte 45, Houston 29. 3-Point goals-Houston 5-23 (Swoopes 2-5, Cooper 2-8, Thompson 1-5, Arcain 0-1, Woosley 0-1, Perrot 0-3), Charlotte 6-13 (Congreaves 2-3, Stinson 2-5, Moore 1-1, Levesque 1-3, Suber 0-1). Fouled out-None. Rebounds- Houston 21 (Thompson 6), Charlotte 37 (Bullett 11). Assists- Houston 13 (Perrot 7), Charlotte 21 (Levesque 8). Total fouls- Houston 19, Charlotte 17. A-18,937.

Sparks 74, Starzz 64 At Salt Lake City

Lisa Leslie scored 23 and pulled down 12 rebounds to key Los Angeles’ victory over Utah.

Haixia Zheng, the Sparks’ 6-foot-8 center from China, added 16 points, 14 of them in the first half. Leslie scored 13 of her points in the opening half.

Los Angeles (74) - Colleton 0-3 0-2 0, Zheng 7-10 2-3 16, Leslie 9-18 4-8 23, Dixon 3-12 5-7 12, Toler 3-6 1-2 7, Burgess 5-8 1-2 12, Charles 2-3 0-0 4, Gessig 0-0 0-0 0, Wideman 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 29-62 13-24 74.

Utah (64) - Koss 1-6 1-2 3, Palmer 10-31 7-11 27, Baranova 2-12 0-0 5, Hardmon 1-4 2-2 4, Reiss 2-9 0-0 4, Hicks 1-2 0-0 2, Williams 4-7 2-2 10, Carter 2-2 0-1 4, Head 1-1 0-0 3, Booker 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 25-76 12-18 64.

Halftime-Los Angeles 44, Utah 29. 3-Point goals-Los Angeles 3-8 (Burgess 1-1, Leslie 1-2, Dixon 1-2, Colleton 0-1, Wideman 0-2), Utah 2-11 (Head 1-1, Baranova 1-5, Koss 0-1, Palmer 0-2, Reiss 0-2). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Los Angeles 53 (Leslie 12), Utah 48 (Palmer 13). Assists-Los Angeles 22 (Toler 8), Utah 15 (Reiss 4). Total fouls-Los Angeles 18, Utah 18. A-8,970.