Comets win, lose Thompson
With Houston’s leading scorer sidelined with an injury, Tiffani Johnson picked the right time to step up for the Comets.
Johnson scored eight of her 10 points in overtime while filling in for the injured Tina Thompson, and Houston beat the host San Antonio Silver Stars 69-66 for its third straight victory.
Thompson, who led Houston with 15 points, left the game at the end of regulation with an injured left calf muscle. Sheryl Swoopes added 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Comets.
“Anytime a great player like Tina Thompson gets hurt, it takes two or three players to pick up the slack,” Johnson said. “Before the OT, I went up to Michelle Snow and said ‘Let’s be those players, we have to pick it up in the OT.’ Together we were very aggressive in the overtime.”
San Antonio, which lost its fifth straight game, was led by Marie Ferdinand with 20 points. Semeka Randall added 12 points and LaToya Thomas 10.
Trailing by as many as 14 points in the second half, San Antonio ended regulation with a 19-6 run to send the game to overtime when Thomas connected on a short bank shot with 1.2 seconds remaining to tie the score at 57.
“I thought when we were up 14 we took off a little bit,” said Houston coach Van Chancellor. “We really had to get tough on the boards and rebound our way back into this one. Going into the overtime without Tina Thompson, I thought we were in trouble. That’s where Tiffani Johnson was as big as she has ever been as a member of the Houston Comets. If Tiffani doesn’t play as well as she does in overtime, we don’t win.”
Sun 83, Monarchs 76: At Sacramento, Calif., Nykesha Sales scored 22 points and Katie Douglas 21, helping Connecticut rally in the second half for a victory over Sacramento.
The win ended a three-game losing streak for the Sun, who dropped the first two games of a four-game road trip.
Asjha Jones had 11 points for Connecticut and Taj McWilliams-Franklin added 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Tangela Smith scored 15 points and Yolanda Griffith 13 for Sacramento. Reserve Hamchetou Maiga had a career-high 12 points, and Ticha Penicheiro added six points and eight assists.
Shock 72, Fever 68: At Auburn Hills, Mich., Swin Cash scored 22 points and her three-point play with 14.9 seconds left helped Detroit win its fourth straight as the Shock defeated Indiana.
The defending WNBA champs lost key reserve Barb Farris to a dislocated left shoulder in the second half, but they were still able to come from behind for the fourth game in a row.
Ruth Riley had a regular-season career high with 26 points.
Natalie Williams, who led Indiana with 19 before fouling out in the final minute, became the first player in U.S. women’s history to record 2,500 rebounds (ABL and WNBA combined) after grabbing her first rebound.