Thursday was one of the best days the Utah Starzz have ever seen.
"Freddy Bass" got a contract extension in the morning and worked the sidelines at night more than he ever has. The other Williams, Natalie, returned after missing four games with a foot injury to post her ninth double-double. Elena Baranova blocked three consecutive Lisa Leslie shots. Margo Dydek's shots fell again. Adrienne Goodson scored in double figures for the 18th straight game, shooting better than 50 percent for the eighth time. Korie Hlede hit more of the big shots for which she was acquired.And the Starzz answered every Los Angeles challenge Thursday night in the Delta Center to claim the team's biggest upset in more than a year, breaking the 16-7 Sparks' six-game win streak 81-75, dominating start to finish.
All that brought on the best part: Utah broke its franchise record by getting its ninth win in one season. It is now 9-15.
In their first year, the Starzz won seven games. Last year, they won eight. Now they've won nine with eight games left, starting with that nasty Minnesota team in the Delta Center Saturday at 7.
"This is a huge win for us," said Natalie Williams, whose injured arch held up better than she expected to 24 minutes of running and jumping.
"We have a pretty complete team now," observed guard Debbie Black. "The missing pieces are here." Her reference was to shooting guard Hlede and forward Cindy Brown, obtained a week ago in a trade with Detroit.
"Cindy brings veteran play to the game and is very smart," agreed Natalie Williams, "and Korie is exactly what we need. When they collapsed in on us, we found her." Hlede scored 13 with three assists, four rebounds. The one three she hit came after Leslie's only three cut Utah's margin to 73-70. At 79-75 lead, Black missed two free throws, but Hlede stole the ball right back, was fouled and made free throws to conclude the scoring.
"That's why she was brought here," Fred Williams said.
Hlede, runner-up for 1998 WNBA rookie of the year at Detroit, lost playing time there this season when ABL vet Jennifer Azzi was drafted. She said Williams helped her confidence by playing her the last 11 1/2 minutes so she was primed by the time she needed to make big plays.
The last time Utah beat a team this good was July 27, 1998, when the Starzz whacked eventual WNBA Western Conference champion Phoenix 90-80 in Frank Layden's coaching debut. Layden
resigned four games into this season, assistant Fred Williams took over as head coach June 21, and on Thursday morning, the Starzz's best bass guitarist got some coaching-job security with a one-year contract extension.
After the win, Williams took the P.A. microphone and thanked the small crowd of 4,960 for its big contributions to the win and the season. It was done partially in answer to the way Sparks coach Orlando Woolridge whooped and hollered into the Forum's loudspeaker system after two earlier wins there over Utah. L.A. is Fred Williams' home town, and last Friday, Utah had only eight players for the game at L.A.
Williams said he also sincerely meant to thank the fans. "It is a big night for myself and also for the fans because they really helped us through this game and also through the season," he said.
Another highlight was that the Starzz actually carried out a game plan. They stoned L.S.'s transition by leaving a post player back on defense and crowding the ballcarrier. And they were strict about harassing Leslie (nine points, five fouls, four turnovers), Baranova bodying up on her and getting double-down help from guards.
That dared the other Sparks to beat them. The Yugoslavians, Gordana Grubin (20 points) and Nina Bjedov (17, career-best 4-for-4 on threes), took the challenge.
But this time, the Starzz didn't crack when an opponent got frisky. L.A. made a 7-0 run thanks to two bad Starzz passes early in the second half to cut a one-time Starzz 12-point lead to four. But Baranova curled inside for a jumper and stole the ball right back.
Then Dydek plunked a 3-pointer from straightaway off a Williams feed to make it 46-37. "Our game is inside. I tried to play inside, (but) sometimes my defenders don't come out on me," the 7-2 Dydek said about making her 3-pointer, which she said came before Sparks' backup center Bjedov began hitting hers. "I was shooting first," said Dydek, who was 1-for-13 in Tuesday's loss to New York, her worst Starzz game.
Grubin, whose treys broke the Starzz last week, hit back-to-back threes, but the Starzz answered with two points each time, and Williams (basket, two free throws) and Hlede (assist, hard-fought rebound) jumped the lead to nine again. Grubin got it back to five, but a Williams steal sent Hlede in for a layup that kicked off a six-point Starzz surge.
Back came L.A. Up went Utah: A Goodson three, Dydek free throws, Hlede baseline J and Black free throws -- a solution for every problem, at least for one Big Thursday.
In other WNBA action:
WASHINGTON 72, ORLANDO 68: The Washington Mystics found themselves talking about an unfamiliar subject -- the playoffs.
Heather Owen hit a 15-foot jumper in the final minute to give Washington the lead for good as the Mystics went on to defeat the Orlando Miracle 72-68 on Thursday night.
Washington (8-17) pulled to 31/2 games behind Detroit for the third and last playoff position in the WNBA's Eastern Division.
"We've got to keep our minds focused," Nikki McCray said "We can make the playoffs. It would be so funny if we did." With only seven games remaining in the season, the Mystics know it won't be easy.
"It's always been in the back of our minds," Washington coach Nancy Darsch said. "Nobody in the East is really out of it." The Mystics have kept themselves in it with their play against better teams. New York, Charlotte, Detroit and Orlando are above Washington in the standings, yet the Mystics have beaten them all.
The win was Washington's second in a row and just the second time in the team's two-year history that the Mystics have put together a winning streak. In its inaugural season, Washington had a 3-27 record.