Sparks Certainly Not at a Loss for Words Concerning Officials
A quiet, seething fury permeated the Sparks’ locker room moments after a 72-71 loss to Houston on Saturday, and Coach Julie Rousseau unloaded, ignoring the prospect of a near-certain $500 fine for criticizing WNBA officials.
“Things were missed out there [by the three officials] that had a direct effect on the outcome,” she said, speaking slowly and quietly. “When outside forces [the partisan crowd of 14,358] are allowed [to influence the outcome], then the game is unfair.”
The Sparks (10-13) were indeed an angry basketball team afterward, unwilling to concede anything to arguably the WNBA’s hottest team, Houston (14-7).
Lisa Leslie, too, lined up for a fine.
“We were playing eight people out there today,” Leslie said. “Our effort was great. We did everything we could.”
Rousseau received a technical foul with 12:14 left, furious no foul was called when Houston’s Tina Thompson poked Haixia Zheng in the eye. Cynthia Cooper made the free throw for a 49-48 Houston lead.
Ironically, Spark General Manager Rhonda Windham said after Thursday’s victory at Cleveland she would submit a video of challenged calls and non-calls by officials to the WNBA’s New York office.
She’ll want to include a few from Saturday’s game--particularly one with 2:39 to go. Cooper appeared to travel in the baseline corner, just before passing to Kim Perrot, in the other corner. There was no whistle, and Perrot made a three-point shot to cut a Spark lead to 66-65.
Wanda Guyton then made a steal and a layup and Los Angeles, which led most of the game, now trailed by one. Penny Toler briefly put the Sparks ahead, 71-70, with a pull-up jumper with 29 seconds left. But Guyton, on a great pass from a double-teamed Cooper, made the layup for the decisive points with eight seconds left.
The officials--Bob Trammell, Scott Yarbrough and Sue Kennedy--called fouls on near-even terms, 22 on the Sparks, 19 on the Comets.
But the Spark bench was in an almost continual uproar over the crew’s non-calls as Leslie and Zheng were being hammered in the low post.
Leslie, in early foul trouble, played only 23 minutes and finished with three points and six rebounds. Her former USC teammate, Houston’s Tina Thompson, played 37 minutes on a sprained ankle and had 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Sheryl Swoopes’ playing time went from five minutes Thursday to eight Saturday. She didn’t score. Her only shot attempt, a three-pointer, was blocked.
The Sparks’ Tamecka Dixon--despite the defensive efforts of Cooper and Janeth Arcain--had a game-high 21 points.
Perrot, a 5-foot-5 guard who came in with a 4.3-point scoring average, led Houston with 19 points.