Comets Get Western Title by the Throat : Cooper, playing with a heavy heart, shows plenty of it and keeps team on course for date with destiny.

HOUSTON —  This is more important than the ugly altercation between Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson that marred the final minute of Monday night’s game between the Sparks and the Houston Comets.

This is bigger than even the game itself, which was a great, heated battle between the champion Comets and the emerging Sparks.

It is the reason the Sparks should feel absolutely no shame about losing Game 3 and the Western Conference finals to the Comets.

Greater forces are at work here.

“Something very powerful and awesome is going on,” Comet guard Cynthia Cooper said.

The most powerful and awesome thing of all has been Cooper herself.

If the Comets’ quest for their third consecutive championship in the wake of teammate Kim Perrot’s death Aug. 19 has become an engrossing story, Cooper’s play is transcending into a rarefied level of athletic performance.

She willed Houston into the WNBA finals Monday night, guiding them to a 72-62 victory with an all-around performance that included 23 points, 12 assists, seven rebounds and an immeasurable amount of heart.

When the Comets learned Perrot had lung cancer in February it hit Cooper the hardest. She lost her mother to cancer not long before, and Perrot was the close friend who helped her through her grief.

On Aug. 16, when Perrot was in the last stages of her life, Cooper went to visit her in the hospital. That night Cooper scored 42 points against the Utah Starzz. She scored 16 points two nights later against Phoenix. But when Perrot died the next day, Cooper couldn’t bring herself to play against the Sparks at the Forum the following night.

The box score entry next to her name should have read: “Did Not Play--Broken Heart.”

Not even the onset of the playoffs, when she’s normally at her best, could inspire her. She struggled through a four-for-16 shooting night when the Comets dropped the opener of this series at the Great Western Forum.

Her ability to recover and play through the emotional pain is the reason the Comets came back to win this series. She looks as if she could burst into tears at any moment, and yet she keeps making big plays.

She is producing some of those rare moments in sports when the games do more than entertain, they uplift the spirit.

“She’s a true professional,” teammate Tammy Jackson said. “She’s able to put things aside and concentrate on her job. I’m proud of her.”

For Cooper, the ability doesn’t all come from within. “I prayed and prayed,” Cooper said after she scored 22 points in Game 2. “I’m still not out of the woods. I’m still struggling with everything that’s happened within the last eight months.”

But through all of that, she’s still playing basketball, still doing the thing she loves.

“My mom once told me to take all the negative energy and turn it into something positive on the court,” Cooper said after Game 3. “I think I did that tonight.”

The Comets needed it. The Sparks came back with a worthy effort after their unacceptable effort Sunday afternoon. Lisa Leslie took command with 14 points and six rebounds in the first half, Mwadi Mabika swooped and dangled in the air to score 10 first-half points and the Sparks went up by nine.

Cooper made her first four shots and scored 10 of Houston’s first 21 points. She rode the ebb and flow of the game, picking her spots to take over.

She didn’t need to expend any extra energy. She would require all of it for the game. Coach Van Chancellor played her the entire 40 minutes.

“I never thought about taking her out of the game,” Chancellor said.

“I knew I was going to have to play big minutes,” Cooper said. “I didn’t know I would play the whole game. I was able to play for 40 minutes because basketball is a team game.”

It helps to have teammates like Sheryl Swoopes, who scored 23 points, and had 10 of the 12 points that cut the Sparks’ lead to three at halftime.

In the second half the Sparks refused to wilt in the face of the dwindling minutes and mounting pressure. Mabika scored four more points and Nina Bjedov gave them seven more off the bench. La’Keshia Frett got a couple of hoops and Leslie scored a basket 11 minutes into the second half.

Cooper was better than all of them. She scored or assisted on the Comets’ first 17 points of the second half. She handled the ball almost every time Houston come down the court, yet she didn’t commit a turnover.

She was on empty the last few minutes. She didn’t have enough juice to get past her defender. But just when it looked as if she had nothing left she summoned one last bit of energy on defense, where it’s often hardest to find.

Allison Feaster was open for a three-pointer that could have brought the Sparks back to within three points in the final minute. Cooper rushed out and partially blocked it.

A couple of fouls gave her the opportunity to sink three more free throws, score three more points, hear more cheers.

It’s almost a mixed blessing that the Comets have advanced to the finals. They kept their pursuit of another championship alive. And Cooper presented herself with the near-impossible task of topping these last two efforts.

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J.A. Adande can be reached atj.a.adande@latimes.com