The Odessa American from Odessa, Texas • 17

Section Comics 2 1 PClaisiE-M3 3-8 Classifieds 5 3-8 ODESSA AMERICAN Thursday. August 28. 1 997 ru 9 a Fl ifk in ri A. Comets hope to keep winning ways against Charlotte in playoffs Liberty ready to face off with Mercury PHOENIX (AP) A decade after a series of NBA playoff battles between Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson, the WNBA is kindling its own tradition of point-guard matchups. Two of the best will renew their rivalry tonight night when the New York Liberty meet the Phoenix Mercury in a loser-out semifinal.

The survivor advances to the league's first championship game Saturday against the Charlotte-Houston winner. New York's Teresa Weather-spoon smiles at the thought of a fifth duel with Michele Timms, but she isn't laughing. "It's nothing humorous," she said. "It's just that you're going to have two players who really want it, and you'll do anything to get it. We're going to be banging and kicking and clawing and scratching, whatever it takes.

I know she feels that way, too." Timms won the statistical battle with Weatherspoon, averaging 1 1 .3 points, 6.7 assists and 2 steals in the 2-2 series split to Weatherspoon's 4.8, 5.5 and 2.7. Weatherspoon was dominant against other teams, finishing the season with 7 points and league highs in assists (6.1) and steals (3.04). "I think it's a great matchup," Liberty coach Nancy Darsch said. "It has to be one of the best in the WNBA at any position. Both of them are so hard-nosed, so competitive, so similar in age and in terms of what they've done for their countries and their national programs." Six-foot-4 Rebecca Lobo got most of the credit when New York (17-11) won its first seven games, but attention has shifted to the backcourts, where Weatherspoon, the defensive player of the year, plays alongside Sophia Wither-spoon and Bridget Pettis starts with Timms.

know we know we can come down and play well. We played well in their arena last Tuesday night (Aug. 19). "It came down to the last three or four minutes of the game and they hit their shots and we didn't. I just feel good about our team and our chemistry right now." Houston coach Van Chancellor has spent the past few days trying to get the Comets' chemistry cooking again.

Houston lost its final two regular season games after clinching the playoffs. "He lias reason to be concerned and be on our case to get us really motivated for the game," Cooper said. "It's going to be very tough. He's been very good all season at getting us motivated and that's what he's done." The Sting must contend with Cooper, the league's leading scorer, All-WNBA forward Tina Thompson and an emerging Sheryl Swoopes, who is getting back in shape after giving birth June 25. "They're hard to match up with because they have so many weapons," Meadors said.

"Our goal is to hold Cynthia Cooper around her average if possible. I'm not sure that's possible. She's a tremendous player and she's had a great season." Stopping Andrea Stinson will be among Houston's goals. "She's averaging 16-17 points and six or nine rebounds a game so she's very instrumental in their offense," Cooper said. "Anytime she's on fire, (Charlotte is on fire." The Sting has a 3-1 1 road record, worst among the four playoff teams HOUSTON (AP) The Houston Comets have the best record in the WNBA and they've beaten the Charlotte Sting three of the four times they've played.

In the single-elimination WNBA layoffs, that doesn't matter one it. The winner of the tonight's semifinal game between the Comets (18-10) and Sting (15-13) will end up in the first WNBA championship game. The loser's season will be over. "It's not like we'll get the game back when we go to their Comets guard Cynthia Cooper said. "There is none of that.

It's do or die." The Comets-Sting winner will play for the WNBA title Saturday against the winner of the New York Liberty (17-11) and the Phoenix Mercury (16-12) in the other semifinal tonight. "We've all played in the NCAA playoffs and we know this type of game," Cooper said. "We know that one game wins it all and one game- loses it all, so we're prepared." The Comets' domination of the Sting doesn't bother Charlotte coach Marynell Meadors. In fact, she thinks it may help. "I think there's a danger (for Houston), especially if you've won most of the games," Meadors said.

"You can always play a team too many times and at some point in time they're going to get you." Charlotte's only victory over the Comets came Aug. 16 and the Comets won the final game 77-69 in Houston. "We've had some real competi tive games as of late and that's got -f Mr A "-iLiiTiin -smm. i i. iniriiiiiJni 1.

'2. AP photo Cynthia Cooper (right) of the Houston Comets was selected as the first-ever Most Valuable Player by the Women's National Basketball Association. Today, Cooper and the Comets face the Charlotte Sting in a single-elimination playoff game. to be a concern," Meadors said. Iin the league.

League's first season a positive step forward i 'X i 4 I. 3 1 r. 9 rt-tmn "I I In J. and tying Sacramento for the worst 'yumnmitta ball League, which already is making preparations for a second season, have spent some serious startup cash betting that the future will be better than the past. Their confidence is based on several things.

Thirty years ago, one in 27 girls played high school sports; today, that number is one in three. In a more immediate vein, the U.S. Olympic team that won the gold medal in Atlanta, as well as a number of college teams like Connecticut, have become proven draws, capable of packing souvenir stands as well as arenas. So much so that Ackerman says for public consumption, at least the demand for the women's game is growing fast enough to accommodate two leagues. But in the next breath, she credits much of the WNBA's success to having "real firepower" at her command.

That translates into television exposure, promotional tie-ins with companies like Sears and General Motors, and the organizational expertise being brought to bear by the league's owner-operator, the NBA. That firepower helps the WNBA keep players with established reputations like Rebecca Lobo and Sheryl Swoopes in front of the paying public. It makes "discoveries" like Cynthia Cooper and Michelle Edwards, who previously went to Europe to make their mark, easier to showcase. Which is why the WNBA hasn't had to rely on big brother for its audience or good story lines. It VorKPhowfcHO I wffSj TBA.I-30pm.lK8C) fcW YOBK (API ttosUli Of Ik imftnf lor 1997 MM6A Mo VAMOto Play Awirrj, nkM ff I pn HI AP photo Houston Comets coach Van Chancellor (center) was named as the Women's National Basketball Association's first-ever Coach of the Year on Wednesday.

Tonight, the Comets play the Charlotte Sting in a loser-out WNBA playoff semifinal. didn't hurt that Swoopes had a child and still played the final few games of the season, or that Cooper emerged as the league's best player from among a half-dozen better-known names. But Ackerman was confident going in; before becoming the league's top executive, she spent a few years as a player for the national team. She knew her market well. "I hoped we'd be able to attract a certain demographic youthful families, females and supplement it with basketball fans who were going through withdrawal.

We have that," Ackerman said. If there was a surprise, it was the makeup of the families that turned up. Mothers brought their kids, but so, in surprising numbers, did the fathers. "And it wasn't just with the one daughter. It seems like there were always two or three of her friends along," Ackerman said.

Perhaps because of that, the audience breakdown was 60 percent female and 30 percent under age 18 a very different demographic from the NBA. There's a different interplay between player and fan, too, though no figures are available to confirm Ackerman's sense of what is going on. "We've bonded," she said. "More girls than ever before are playing the game, which means the role modeling has become more intense. In a very real way, at least while they're young, our players are the people young girls want to be like.

"Think how special that is. Finally, for the first time, young girls can be like athletes and they don't have to be like Mike. They can be like Sheryl. Or Cynthia." mtOilnthoU.S.: Ptmw.TMa Gynmi Coooor. Howton Antra Sfcttod CD, Lm Im in! 370 11 109 tor fCJit Sotan-tfeMiMd.

WW VOW (AP) VMng far 1997 WNBA Cotdl Of Vor it mmcM oy pm of mat. Vtn ChmceAor, Homlon Undt M'MacOanaid. 4 cnoyMMt, Hancy OuvA Nt Yord 2 MvynM Mttfat. ClwtotJl 1 ByJimUtke The Associated Press The WNBA's inaugural regular season can be summed up in a few words. Nobody dunked.

Plenty of people watched anyway. After 224 games and perhaps three times that many opportunities, a dunk to call their own was the only height the women didn't hit. And nobody in the audience seemed to miss it. i Stars were born, games were competitive, TV ratings finished very much in line with expectations and the live gate an average of 9,669 per game was more than twice what was projected. "The type of people we expected, came," commissioner Val Ackerman said Tuesday.

"It was that more of them came out than we expected." The last statement might have been cause for celebration at the WNBA's New York headquarters but Ackerman wouldn't admit it. She still has more than enough to worry about. First, there is the league's four- team, single-elimination playoff that begins Thursday night with Charlotte at Houston and New-York at Phoenix, and concludes Saturday. The moment that ends, Ackerman goes back to worrying about the future of the women's pro game. "If there's a downside to all Ackerman said, "it's knowing that we can't rest" Nor should they.

Four previous attempts to start up women's pro leagues since the mid-1970's died varying deaths. Both the WNBA and its rival, the American Basket- ITJQl dv in i nmn rwrnCOT Vmnui, tut tt ChuWIi 0 HouMon, I JO fM. LH) omeis sweep league honors a league record with 44 points against Sacramento July 25. "I'm floating on air right now like I'm in a dream so don't wake me up," Cooper said. The Comets finished the regular season with an 18-10 record and the Eastern Conference championship.

They play the Charlotte Sting Thursday night in a semifinal playoff game at The Summit. Cooper, 34, played in Europe for 11 seasons before returning to play for the new league. "This is so special for me after playing in Europe for so long and away from America and Americans," Cooper said. "Then to come back and win the Eastern Conference title and be the MVP, it's unbelieveble." Cooper led the league with 41.4 percent shooting from 3-point range and her free throw shooting (86.4 percent) was third in the WNBA. Chancellor, the women's coach at Mississippi for 19 years, wouldn't show much emotion about reither award.

"This is not the top," he said. "That's not until Saturday. That would be the top. We've got two steps to go before we reach the so. The WNBA title game will be played Sanirday HOUSTON (AP) Cynthia Cooper, who led the Houston Comets to the best record in the WNBA's first season, was chosen the league's MVP Wednesday and her.

coach. Van Chancellor, was selected coach of the year. Cooper, the league's leading scorer and unanimous selection to the all-WNBA team, was the runaway winner of the MVP award, beating Charlotte's Andrea Stinson by a 370-116. margin in voting by a national media panel. Los Angeles' Lisa Leslie was third with 109 points and Sacramento's Ruthie Bolton.Holifield fourth with 107.

Chancellor got 26 of the 37 votes for the coaching honor. He led the Comets to the best road record in the league, 9-5, and tutored a defense that ranked second in the league (63.3 points per game). Cleveland's Linda Hill-MacDonald was runner-up with four votes. "There would be no coach of the year award without Cynthia Cooper," Chancellor said. "She scored, she dished off the ball.

She made a lot of other players on this team better." Cooper averaged 22.2 points, 4.7 assists and 2.11 steals per game and shot 47 percent from the field. Cooper scored 30 or more points in eight games and set.