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Kathy Goodman: Free dress for everyone!

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I sent a text to our general manager, Penny Toler, this afternoon as follows: “Just tell me we’re going to win tonight. We have a dress code at school, and if we win, the principal says it’s free dress tomorrow. I can’t face the kids tomorrow if we lose.” Her response: “Free dress for everyone!”

The last time we played Washington, we dug a deep hole to start, worked our way all the way back from the edge of the abyss and then let the game go in the last three minutes. However, we were a very different team than we were in the middle of July when we last played Washington — Candace Parker was playing at a different level and Lisa Leslie was back out on the floor. I was hoping the team would carry over the defensive intensity they showed against Sacramento on Saturday night. But, as all Sparks fans know, the big question is always which Sparks team will show up on game night.

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I felt some confidence at the start of the game when Candace tipped the opening jump ball to Tina Thompson, who passed it to Lisa, who found Candace in the paint for a layup, all in the first 10 seconds. Nice teamwork. The rest of the game wasn’t quite that easy, though. The lead changed 12 times over the course of the game, and the defense by both teams was physical and fierce. We got out of the first quarter with a four-point lead and had held Alana Beard to just two points (she had, by herself, outscored our entire team in the D.C. game), so some things were definitely going right.

The second quarter was a bit of a letdown. Halfway through the quarter, we had not only lost our lead, but also let Washington move ahead, so that with 3 1/2 minutes left in the quarter, our four-point lead had somehow become a four-point lead for the Mystics. In the last 2 1/2 minutes of the quarter, Lisa put an end to that with two free throws and a turnaround jumper, followed by Betty Lennox drilling a jump shot to end the half with the Sparks up by two.

I still wasn’t quite ready to plan my casual wardrobe for the morning. After all, we were only up by two with the dreaded third quarter to come. I am not sure what happened in the locker room at the half this time, but the Sparks opened the second half with a nine-point run in just over four minutes, and I started to think about what I might wear the next day to school. But I guess Matee Ajavon hadn’t heard about the free-dress deal. She reeled off eight of the 10 points scored by the Mystics in the last two minutes of the quarter. Fortunately, we had Noelle Quinn working our basket, scoring six points for us in the last minute of the half, ensuring that we could go into the fourth with a lead — even if it was just a little lead.

Now, we were where we had been so many times this season — slightly ahead with 10 minutes to go and me fervently wishing the clock would tick as fast as possible before we lost our lead. Washington was not just going to lie down. Like us, they were fighting for a playoff spot, and the game was too close to let it just slip away. The fourth quarter was dicey for the first two minutes as we lost our lead, got up by one, then down by one, then up by one again. Finally, we put together a mini-run over the next two minutes, with Marie Ferdinand-Harris making the most of her playing time. She scored or assisted on the next eight points and we were up by six. Now I really wanted that clock to start ticking. In the last five minutes of the game, the Sparks couldn’t quite put the Mystics away — they fought back to a tie with 1 1/2 minutes left. I wasn’t sure I could watch the rest.

With 30 seconds left, Candace got to the line. We were up by two and these two free throws would make it a two-possession game. CP calmly took her spot and bricked her first free throw. She made her second one, but Lindsay Harding had been hot from outside the arc all night so the game was definitely not over. Lindsay got the ball and drove straight to the hoop, getting fouled by Parker in the process. School was going to be early in the morning. I didn’t want overtime. I wanted a win in regulation. Harding stepped to the line to take the free throw that would have tied the game, but missed. We were still up by one and, with only 11 seconds left on the clock, Washington had to foul. Candace made both of those free throws, putting us back up by three again. Could we play good solid defense for the last 10 seconds? Mystics couldn’t even get a shot off, and the game ended. Penny was right: “Free dress for everyone!”

-- Kathy Goodman,
co-owner of the Sparks

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