After losing the first three games of their current road trip by an average of 20 points, things were bound to get better for the Utah Starzz Saturday night, right?
Well, not exactly.The Starzz dropped their fourth consecutive game and, once again, it wasn't even close. The Cleveland Rockers, the last place team in the WNBA's Eastern Division, were the latest team to send the Starzz falling. This time it was 95-68 in front of 6,485 fans at Gund Arena. If it hadn't been for a huge offensive night by Utah center Elena Baranova, the Starzz's most lopsided loss ever would have been even uglier.
But, wait. It gets worse for the Starzz. Baronova, who scored 25 points, injured her right hip. It will be X-rayed Monday to see if there is a stress fracture. If so, Utah's Russian star could be done for the season.
"It's been a long trip and we've been through a lot of adversity," said Starzz coach Denise Taylor. "But that's part of this business. We've just got to keep competing and continue to work on things that will help us in the next game."
Which - cover your eyes - is Tuesday night against the league's best team, the 12-2 New York Liberty in Madison Square Garden.
The Starzz now own a league-worst 3-11 record at the midway point of the 28-game season. Cleveland improved to 5-8.
Saturday's game was tight for, oh, about two minutes. The Rockers scored the first five points - on a 3-point bomb by Eva Nemcova and a short jumper by former Harlem Globetrotter Lynette Woodard. That was about all she wrote for the Starzz.
Utah, for the third game in a row, never held a lead. The Rockers led by five midway through the first half when a 14-2 run, paced by Woodard, gave Cleveland a 34-17 with 7:39 remaining. By the half the Rockers were up by 18 points and coasting. Cleveland led by as many as 30 points in the second half before settling in for a 27-point win.
The one bright spot in Saturday's game for the Starzz was the play of Baranova. She had a grand total of three 3-point shots in Utah's first 13 games, but made 5-of-9 from beyond the 3-point arc Saturday.
"I cannot say that I played very well because my team lost," said Baranova. "It would be better if I scored three or four points and we won. I would feel much better about it."
Taylor said it wasn't by chance that Baranova took almost as many 3-points shots Saturday - and made more - than she had in the previous 13 games combined.
"I met with her and I told her that I wanted her to look for the 3-point shots and to take that shot," said Taylor. "She can make them. She was thinking that she just had to score inside for us, but I explained to her that we need her to shoot outside because we're not getting the outside scoring from our guards."
While Baranova was having a fine game, Utah's leading scorer - Wendy Palmer - was off. Palmer was just 3-for-16 from the field.
"We need both Wendy and Elena to play well on the same night to be hitting on all cylinders," said Taylor.
The Rockers had five players score double figures led by forward Janice Braxton's 19 points. Nemcova netted 15, while Woodard and Isabelle Fijalkowski scored 13 each.
Utah guard Kim Williams scored 17 points. She made 7-of-12 shots. Former Mountain View High star Raegan Scott added a career-high six points in eight minutes for the Starzz.
GAME NOTES: Utah, which turned the ball over 33 times in Thursday's loss to New York, only had 14 turnovers Saturday. Instead, its biggest weaknesses were in rebounding and defense. The Starzz were outrebounded 37-22 (16-6 in the first half) and allowed the Rockers to shoot 57.1 percent from the floor as a team. Cleveland entered the game shooting 40.8 percent from the field. . . . The Starzz are now 0-7 against Eastern Conference teams. . . . Cleveland's 95 points were the most given up the Utah this season and the second most points scored in a WNBA game. The Starzz, which beat Los Angeles 102-89 in the second game of the season, are the only team in the league to have surpassed the century mark in points.