Throughout the first quarter, it looked like the Storm would complete the fourth opening round sweep of the playoffs. But Mwadi Mabika and the Sparks fought back in the second and third quarters to force a game three tomorrow night with a 78-70 win.

Mabika finished with 17 points and was critical in two separate runs for the Sparks. "That was vintage Mabika," Donovan said. "When she came out and caught fire in the third quarter, that made all the difference in the game." Lisa Leslie added, "Mwadi would not be denied. She kept telling us, `You guys, it's OK. We're going to win this game. Don't worry about it.' She was fired up."

A Storm field goal drought of 14 minutes also helped the Sparks. Too often settling for three point attempts Donovan declared, "We completely melted down." It also did not help that LJ only was able to get four FG attempts in the game.

Betty Lennox led all scorers with 19 points, but as Pelton points out an aggressive Betty can mean great things or bad things. Along with Bird's broken nose, Lennox limped off the floor in the closing minutes of the game. With the importance of the game, both will likely play tomorrow night. Whether or not Holdsclaw will be able to play more than two minutes will be a game time decision.