The Los Angeles Sparks trailed the entire second half until 15 seconds to go in the game. Delisha Milton-Jones, back in uniform after her one-game suspension, shot a three-pointer to make it 68-67 L.A.
But L.A.'s (14-12) defense couldn't quite ice the cake as New York Liberty center Janel McCarville drove towards the basket against defenders and threw in a clutch lay-up that would be the final blow. The Liberty (14-10) held on to win 69-68 after squandering an 11-point lead.
"Please go in!" McCarville says she thought as the ball was in the air. "It was over a lot of people...I heard the crowd's reaction, and basically turned to run down court to play defense."
As her luck would have it, the lay-up ensured she'd be New York's top scorer on the night with 15. Forwards Shameka Christon and Catherine Kraayeveld scored 13 and 11 respectively. Nine of Kraayeveld's point came via deep 3-pointers, and she and McCarville tied for the assist lead, 4 apiece.
"We've been successful...but we've got to take it one game at a time," McCarville adds. "We come out every night to play."
It was a new game for the Sparks as well, considering Milton-Jones, Lisa Leslie and Candace Parker were all back from sitting out one game due to their brawl with the Detroit Shock.
"I think after all we've been through as far as the last couple of days...I thought we played a good basektball game," says L.A. head coach Michael Cooper. "We did everything we had to do to win...but we credit McCarville. That was a great basket."
Milton-Jones was the game-high scorer with 19 points. Leslie scored 16, and Parker 13. Leslie and parker also combined for 23 rebounds, 13 and 10 respectively...giving both double-doubles.
"We felt a lot better being able to suit up and obviously play tonight," says Leslie, speaking for all three, who in just days head to Beijing to represent the U.S. national team in the olympics. "We fought hard to get a different result. But turning the ball over as many times as we did, we were really lucky to get back in the game."
The Sparks turned the ball over 20 times to the Liberty's 13.
Both teams now play one last contest each before the WNBA's month-long pause concurrent with the olympics. L.A. heads to Minnesota, and the Liberty take on the Dream in Atlanta.
"What we did in the past couple games is great," says McCarville. "But it's a new game every night...basically one game at a time."
