WNBA

Sophia Witherspoon had four of her season-high 26 points in overtime Wednesday night as the New York Liberty beat the visiting Sacramento Monarchs 73-68, ruining the WNBA coaching debut of former Eastern Washington women’s coach Heidi VanDerveer.

The loss was the sixth straight for the Monarchs (5-11), who fired coach Mary Murphy on Monday.

Ruthie Bolton-Holifield, who was playing in her second game since missing five with a knee injury, tied the game at 64 with a 10-foot jumper with 2.4 seconds left in regulation.

Liberty 73, Monarchs 68 New York

Sacramento (68) - Gordon 7-14 5-7 23, Byears 4-11 2-2 10, McGee 3-9 2-2 8, Tremitiere 3-9 1-2 7, Bolton-Holifield 5-20 2-2 13, Abraham 0-4 0-0 0, Savasta 0-0 0-0 0, Clark 1-1 0-0 2, Hagiwara 1-1 0-0 3, Graves 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 25-71 12-15 68.

New York (73) - Lobo 6-13 1-2 13, Johnson 2-11 0-0 4, Hampton 5-10 1-2 11, Weatherspoon 5-8 3-5 13, Witherspoon 8-16 6-6 26, Trice 0-3 0-0 0, Blades 0-1 0-0 0, Wicks 1-3 0-0 2, Ford 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 29-69 11-15 73.

Halftime-New York 29, Sacramento 24. 3-Point goals- Sacramento 6-16, (Gordon 4-6, Hagiwara 1-1, Bolton-Holifield 1-9), New York 4-11, (Witherspoon 4-8, Ford 0-1, Weatherspoon 0-2). Fouled out-McGee. Rebounds-Sacramento 49 (Byears 10), New York 44 (Lobo 12). Assists-Sacramento 10 (Tremitiere 7), New York 20 (Weatherspoon 10). Total fouls-Sacramento 22, New York 15. A-11,934.

Sting 68, Mercury 67 Charlotte, N.C.

Rhonda Mapp scored 19 points, including four free throws over the final 16 seconds, to lead Charlotte over Phoenix.

Vicky Bullett led Charlotte (8-7) with 20 points, while Andrea Congreaves added 13 points and a game-high 16 rebounds.

Phoenix (67) - Webb 0-3 1-2 1, Foster 4-8 1-3 9, Gillom 7-11 2-3 16, Pettis 3-16 0-0 7, Timms 5-14 2-2 15, Jackson 2-5 2-2 6, Lieberman-Cline 4-7 0-0 9, Askamp 1-5 2-2 4, Ambers 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-69 10-14 67.

Charlotte (68) - Bullet 6-15 7-10 20, Congreaves 5-7 3-5 13, Mapp 6-12 7-8 19, Levesque 1-4 0-0 2, Stinson 3-8 1-2 8, Moore 0-5 0-2 0, Artis 0-0 0-0 0, Hopson-Shelton 1-1 0-0 2, Manning 0-1 0-0 0, Suber 1-3 2-2 4. Totals 23-56 20-29 68.

Halftime - Charlotte 26, Phoenix 23. 3-Point goals-Phoenix 5-18 (Timms 3-5, Lieberman-Cline 1-3, Pettis 1-9, Jackson 0-1), Charlotte 2-10 (Bullett 1-1, Stinson 1-3, Congreaves 0-1, Mapp 0-1, Moore 0-1, Suber 0-1, Levesque 0-2). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Phoenix 34 (Askamp 6), Charlotte 55 (Congreaves 16). Assists-Phoenix 13 (Timms 4), Charlotte 15 (Levesque 5). Total fouls-Phoenix 23, Charlotte 15. A-9,166.

Sparks 91, Starzz 69 Inglewood, Calif.

Lisa Leslie scored eight of her 23 points in a late first-half run as Los Angeles defeated Utah.

Penny Toler and Tamecka Dixon each added 17 in front of an announced crowd of 7,231 at the Forum as Los Angeles (8-10) pulled within 1 games of Western Conference-leading Phoenix.

Utah (69) - Hardmon 1-3 2-2 4, Palmer 4-15 4-6 12, Baranova 6-13 1-4 13, Reiss 5-10 3-3 15, Williams 5-12 0-1 12, Head 1-8 0-0 3, Hicks 3-6 0-0 6, Booker 1-3 2-2 4, Koss 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-70 12-18 69.

Los Angeles (91) - Zheng 3-5 0-0 6, Colleton 3-6 0-2 6, Leslie 8-16 6-10 23, Toler 7-13 3-3 17, Dixon 5-10 5-7 17, Charles 1-3 0-0 2, Mabika 2-8 0-0 4, Wideman 0-4 0-0 0, Burgess 4-7 2-2 10, Burge 2-2 2-4 6. Totals 35-74 18-28 91.

Halftime-Los Angeles 43, Utah 29. 3-Point goals-Utah 5-14 (Reiss 2-4, Williams 2-4, Head 1-2, Baranova 0-4), Los Angeles 3-12 (Dixon 2-2, Leslie 1-3, Toler 0-1, Wideman 0-2, Mabika 0-4). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Utah 42 (Palmer 8), Los Angeles 57 (Leslie 11). Assists-Utah 18 (Head 7), Los Angeles 21 (Leslie 7). Total fouls-Utah 23, Los Angeles 14. Technicals-Taylor. A-7,231.

Swoopes hits court

Just five weeks after giving birth to a son, Sheryl Swoopes joined her Houston Comets teammates for a practice.

“I was really anxious to get out there,” Swoopes said after the 2-hour workout. “I wasn’t so worried how I was going to do. I was more worried about how the players were going to react to me, how I was going to fit in.”