SPARKS PASS TEST : SPARKS 87, CLEVELAND 66.Byline: Pamela Lewis Long Beach Press-Telegram The Long Beach Press-Telegram is a major daily newspaper published in Long Beach, California. Tracing its history to 1897, it is currently published by the Los Angeles Newspaper Group. External links
The Sparks got exactly what they needed Sunday: a fast start and a solid finish. Penny Toler Penny Toler (born March 24, 1966) was a Women's National Basketball Association basketball player. She is currently the general manager of the Los Angeles Sparks. College years Toler attended Long Beach State and was a All-American basketball player. was responsible for the good beginning, scoring 16 of her career-high 22 points in the first half, and defense made the difference in the latter part of the game as the Sparks routed the Cleveland Rockers The Cleveland Rockers was a Women's National Basketball Association team that played from 1997 until 2003. The Rockers were one of the original eight franchises of the WNBA, which started in 1997. The owner was Gordon Gund, who at the time also owned the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers. 87-66 before 7,032 at the Forum. The Sparks (4-8) exploited the Rockers' zone defense by making a franchise-high eight of 14 3-point attempts. Toler made 4 of 5 from behind the arc, all in the first half. ``I found myself wide open,'' said Toler, who also had a season-high nine assists, one short of tying her career mark. ``It was like the parting of the Red Sea parting of the Red Sea God divides the waters for Israelites’ flight. [O.T.: Exodus 14:21–29] See : Escape parting of the Red Sea divinely aided, Moses parts the waters for an Israelite escape. [O.T. .'' Lisa Leslie ``Cleveland was really testing us to see if we had some shooters,'' said Sparks coach Julie Rousseau. ``We had some wide-open gaps. ``Penny Toler was aggressive tonight. She looked for her shot, and when Cleveland went with the zone defense early in the game, everyone stepped it up on the perimeter. Lisa adjusted to the zone after a while also.'' The Sparks never trailed after falling behind 3-2, and had a 42-36 advantage at the half. The Rockers (6-7) went on a 12-2 run to pull within 57-55 on a basket by Michelle Edwards Michelle Edwards (born 11 July 1974) is a female badminton player from South Africa. Edwards played badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics, losing to Aparna Popat of India in the round of 32 in women's singles. with 12:13 to go. But that's as close as they would get as the Sparks played great defense down the stretch and outscored the Rockers 30-11 the rest of the way. The Sparks got quality production off the bench from Jamila Wideman Jamila Wideman (born October 16, 1975) is an American female left-handed point guard basketball player and activist. Early life Wideman's father, John Edgar Wideman, an African-American author and professor, is the first 2-time winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and a , who scored a season-high nine points and played great defense late in the game against the Rockers' Suzie McConnell-Serio. Another key was reserve 6-foot-3 Eugenia Rycraw, who was matched up against 6-5 Isabelle Fijalkowski. Rycraw scored only four points, but had four rebounds and two blocked shots in 12 minutes. The Sparks forced the Rockers into 20 turnovers and committed 15 of their own. They shot 48 percent from the field, including 57 percent from the 3-point line. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Cleveland's Michelle Edwards goes for a layup over the Sparks' Tamecka Dixon. E.J. Flynn/Associated Press |
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