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Holdsclaw scores season-high 27 to help Sparks weather Storm

Associated Press

Chamique Holdsclaw tied a season high with 27 points and added 10 rebounds to lead the Los Angeles Sparks to a 76-65 victory over the Seattle Storm Friday night in Los Angeles.

Tamika Whitmore had 16 points and eight rebounds, and Lisa Leslie contributed 14 points and seven rebounds as the Sparks won for the fourth time in their last five games.

The victory, combined with Sacramento’s loss to Connecticut, enabled Los Angeles to move within 1 1/2 games of the first-place Monarchs in the Western Conference.

Lauren Jackson led the Storm with 21 points. Janell Burse added 12 points and Sue Bird passed for a season-high 10 assists in her second game since recovering from a broken nose and cheekbone.

“We just didn’t play with intensity,” Seattle coach Anne Donovan said. “We got caught up in stretches where we were settling for an outside shot, and we got no second-shot opportunities.”

Mystics 69, Shock 55: At Auburn Hills, Mich., rookie Temeka Johnson scored 15 points and DeLisha Milton-Jones added 13 for Washington, which defeated slumping Detroit.

The Mystics won their third in a row while snapping a three-game road losing streak.

Detroit, with coach Bill Laimbeer a candidate for the New York Knicks job, is 1-5 since starting the season with four straight wins.

Fever 57, Lynx 55: At Indianapolis, Tamika Catchings scored a career-low two points but had six assists and four steals as Indiana beat Minnesota.

Kelly Miller and Kelly Schumacher had 10 points apiece to lead Indiana.

Katie Smith paced Minnesota with 17 points.

Sun 56, Monarchs 45: At Sacramento, Calif., Taj McWilliams-Franklin had 15 points and 14 rebounds, Nykesha Sales added 14 points and Connecticut pulled away in the second half for a victory over Sacramento in a battle between the league’s conference leaders.

Connecticut coach Mike Thibault became the top winner in franchise history with his 45th career victory.

Margo Dydek had nine points, and Lindsay Whalen and Asjha Jones each had eight for the Sun, who have won eight of nine games.

Despite playing with a sprained right knee, DeMya Walker had 16 points and six rebounds for Sacramento, which had its three-game winning streak snapped.