Rousseau Sheds Interim Title

With a contract signature at a Forum news conference Wednesday morning, Julie Rousseau went from interim coach to head coach of the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks.

Rousseau, 32, a year ago the head coach at Los Angeles’ Washington High, became the Sparks’ interim coach early last season, replacing Linda Sharp, who was fired on July 16.

The club was 4-7 at the time, then won nine of 14, including four in a row down the stretch. But the Sparks missed a playoff berth in their last regular-season game, a 73-68 overtime loss at Phoenix.

“The way our season ended last summer . . . it made us all want to come back next time and do it differently,” Rousseau said.

Former NBA player Orlando Woolridge was also re-signed as an assistant. Former UC Irvine coach Colleen Matsuhara will be the second assistant, replacing Wanda Szeremeta.

Spark President Johnny Buss said the team has commitments for 6,000 season tickets and predicted the average attendance would be 10,000 next season.