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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Cooper Hits 39 For Comets

Associated Press

WNBA

Cynthia Cooper, the WNBA’s leading scorer, had 39 points Monday night as the Houston Comets beat the Charlotte Sting 72-62 at Charlotte, N.C.

Cooper, who averages more than 22 points a game, was 15 of 19 from the field, including 5 of 7 from 3-point range. She also had five rebounds, four assists and eight steals as she played the whole 40 minutes.

Kim Perrot added 13 points for Houston (15-7), which has won four consecutive games, including two in a row over Charlotte.

Andrea Stinson had 17 points to lead the Sting (11-10).

Cooper scored 26 points in the first half as the Comets took a 42-31 lead.

The closest the Sting got was 44-39 on Penny Moore’s layup 2 minutes into the second half.

Houston extended the lead to 59-43 with more than 9 minutes to go on Tiffany Woosley’s 3-pointer. Cooper scored six points the final seven minutes to keep the lead in double figures.

Rhonda Mapp added 15 points for Charlotte.

Comets 72, Sting 62

At Charlotte Houston (72) - Arcain 2-3 0-0 4, Thompson 3-7 1-2 8, Guyton 0-5 0-0 0, Cooper 15-19 4-5 39, Perrot 6-11 0-0 13, Jackson 2-3 1-2 5, Woosley 1-4 0-0 3, Harris 0-3 0-0 0, Swoopes 0-1 0-0 0, Moore 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-56 6-9 72.

Charlotte (62) - Bullett 3-8 2-2 8, Congreaves 4-7 2-2 12, Mapp 7-12 1-2 15, Levesque 0-1 0-0 0, Stinson 7-14 2-2 17, Moore 4-5 0-0 8, Manning 1-2 0-0 2, Suber 0-1 0-0 0, Artis 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-50 7-8 62.

Halftime-Houston 42, Charlotte 31. 3-Point goals-Houston 8-20 (Cooper 5-7, Thompson 1-3, Woosley 1-4, Perrot 1-6), Charlotte 3-9 (Congreaves 2-4, Stinson 1-2, Bullett 0-1, Levesque 0-1, Suber 0-1). Fouled out-Thompson. Rebounds- Houston 30 (Jackson 7), Charlotte 25 (Congreaves, Stinson 5). Assists-Houston 16 (Perrot 7), Charlotte 16 (Stinson 6). Total fouls-Houston 13, Charlotte 12. A-6,055.

Rockers 74, Starzz 59

At Salt Lake City, Merlakia Jones scored 17 of her season-high 19 points in the second half as Cleveland extended its road winning streak to five games.

Eva Nemcova added 15 points and Rushia Brown had 13 and 11 rebounds for the Rockers (12-10), who trail Charlotte by five percentage points in the race for the final playoff spot.

Cleveland (74) - Nemcova 6-12 0-0 15, Brown 4-7 5-8 13, Fijalkowski 4-10 0-0 8, Edwards 2-5 0-2 4, Woodard 4-8 1-1 9, Jones 5-13 9-10 19, Johnson 2-3 2-2 6, Nicholson 0-0 0-0 0, Boucek 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-58 17-23 74.

Utah (59) - Palmer 4-9 0-0 8, Koss 1-1 0-0 2, Baranova 3-14 4-6 11, Hardmon 2-3 4-6 8, Reiss 5-13 0-0 12, Booker 3-6 0-0 6, Hicks 3-5 0-0 6, Williams 1-4 0-0 2, Head 2-7 0-0 4, Compain 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-63 8-12 59.

Halftime-Cleveland 36, Utah 18. 3-Point goals-Cleveland 3-5 (Nemcova 3-4, Edwards 0-1), Utah 3-11 (Reiss 2-6, Baranova 1-4, Palmer 0-1). Fouled out-None. Rebounds- Cleveland 45 (Brown 11), Utah 35 (Palmer 11). Assists- Cleveland 15 (Edwards 6), Utah 17 (Hardmon 5). Total fouls- Cleveland 15, Utah 23. A-7,319.