LJ, her shin in pain, skipped the trip to L.A. The rest of the Storm woke up really early for the second half of a back-to-back. And Barb Turner got her first start at power forward, with Izzy back in the lineup at the 3.

The Storm won anyway, and convincingly too. Janell Burse played Leslie aggressively and got the calls she sought. The Sparks' All-Star center picked up four fouls in the first 13 minutes, and did very little after that; the Storm maintained a comfortable lead to the end, in part because they didn't play like it.

Betty Lennox did most of the damage, finishing with 27 points. Sue Bird: "We just played as if we were down five, always attacking, always aggressive, always telling each other, 'We need to get a stop! We need to get a stop!' even though we were up 17 at times. That's what we needed to win."

LA's first home loss snaps an eight-game streak. Jellybean complained about the officiating, but Leslie says she blew it: "Tonight my team really needed me and I wasn't able to stay on the court."