Comets snap Storm’s winning streak

Sheryl Swoopes scored 14 of her 18 points in the second half, and the visiting Houston Comets topped Seattle 63-57 Tuesday night to snap the Storm’s franchise-best six-game winning streak.

The Comets, who also got 15 points from Sheila Lambert, lost to the Storm in Houston last week.

Seattle (8-3) still has the league’s best record, but didn’t play well. The Storm shot only 36 percent, and were outscored 40-26 in the paint.

Lauren Jackson led Seattle with 16 points.

Houston led 47-42 with 9:37 to play, but Seattle came back to tie the score at 53 on a jumper by Kamila Vodichkova with 4:50 remaining.

But Swoopes took over during the final minutes and put the Storm away.

Mercury 69, Lynx 46: At Phoenix, Diana Taurasi scored 11 of her 18 points in a 19-5 run early in the second half, and the Mercury cruised past Minnesota.

Phoenix scored 27 points off 22 Minnesota turnovers.

Mystics 78, Shock 72: At Auburn Hills, Mich., Chamique Holdsclaw scored 27 points and Stacey Dales-Schuman made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 48.6 seconds left to help Washington end Detroit’s five-game winning streak.

Sparks 65, Liberty 49: At New York, Lisa Leslie had 18 points, nine rebounds and five blocks to lead Los Angeles to a victory over New York, handing the slumping Liberty their fifth straight loss.

Sun 63 Fever 58: At Indianapolis, Taj McWilliams-Franklin had 18 points and a season-high 14 rebounds, leading Connecticut past Indiana.

McWilliams-Franklin’s rebound total was just one short of the franchise record and was the most this season by a Connecticut player.