Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 29 August 1997 — Page 2

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WNBA championship one for the boohs

By BARATO BRITT Staff Writer It took time to become a crowd favorite, but the WNBA has emerged as one of the most popular of summer sports spectacles. This weekend, the “girls of summer” will conclude their inaugural season with the first ever WNBA championship. The semifinal round, which begins Thursday, pits the league leading Houston Comets with the tenacious defense of the Charlotte Sting. Led by all-WNBA first team and league MVP favorite Cynthia Cooper and fellow first teamer Tina Thompson, the Comets will take their home court advantage into the Summit where the fans have responded in huge numbers. Additionally, the inspirational play of Sheryl Swoopes should provide the added punch to raise the Comets to the championship game. Charlotte, however, being the only team to defeat the Comets since Swoopes’ return, went 8-6 in the second half of the season and will most likely feed off of their win SumTay against Utah, which eventually earned them the final spot. Houston must also compensate for the lack of frontcourt size to match the big play of Rhonda Mapp and Vicky Bullett, who have came up big in recent games. Charlotte’s Andrea Stinson has a big task in trying to contain “Coop,” who has averaged 27 points against the Sting in the previous matchups. Britt’s Picks: Houston should win this one by a fairly large margin of victory. The reemergence of Swoopes, added with the consistent play of Coop and Thompson should be enough and, with that screaming Summit crowd, the Sting will have their

hands full both halves. The second semifinal match brings the New York Liberty to Phoenix to do battle with the up-tempo Mercury. This game pits two of the finest backcourts in the league with Hoosier native Bridget Pettis and Australian Michelle Timms against Teresa Weatherspoon and Sophia Witherspoon of New York. The Liberty, who were the hottest team in the WNBA the first half of the season, encountered a major slide going an unlikely 5-9 in the latter half. Phoenix went a consistent 8-6 both halves and 6-1 in the last seven games. While Thursday’s game will be a marquee backcourt matchup, ^ the X-factor may be the Mercury’s Jennifer Gillom, who averaged better than 18 points against the ^ Liberty bettering her season average by two. Like the Boom Baby crowd of MSA, it’s also Miller time at America West, where Cheryl’s team went an astounding 12-2 at home, /j Britt’s Picks: The New York Liberty is simply not the team it was coming into the season. And, being that New York has not won at America West during the

regular season, the team must feed off of eachother to battle the playoff intense crowd. Look for Pettis to come out firing early on to catch the Liberty on their heels. •In other WNBA news, the league ’ recently released the All-WNBA First Team. Cynthia Cooper of the Comets was the only unanimous selection receiving a maximum 37 first team votes. Others accompanying her to the first team include Sacramento’s Ruthie Bolton-Holifield, Los Angeles’ Lisa Leslie, Cleveland’s Eva Nemcova and Houston’s Tina Thomspon. All WNBA Second Team consists of New York’s Teresa Weatherspoon and Rebecca Lobo, Utah’s Wendy Palmer, Charlotte’s Andrea Stinson and Jennifer Gillom from Phoenix. WNBA leading scorer and MVP favorite Cynthia Cooper plane to lead her Houston Comets over the Charlotte Sting and into the Championship game.

High School top 10 football scores

1. Penn (1-0) beet Valparaiso 19-12.

2. Indpls Ben Davis (1-0) beat No. 7 Ev. Harrison 14-11. 3. Bloomington South (1-0) beat Franklin Central 43-7. 4. Fort Wayne Snider (1-0) beat FW Concordia 60-12. 5. Carmel (0-1) lost to Hamilton Southeastern 15-7. 6. Martinsville (0-1) lost to Lawrence Central 44-0.

7. Evansville Harrison (0-1) lost to No. 2 Ben Davis 14-11. 10. Griffith (1-0) beat LaPorte 41-6.

7. Indpls Chatard (1-0) beat Indpls Broad Ripple 32-19. & Lakeland (0-1) lost to SB LaSalle 28-6.

9. Delta (1-0) beat Jay Co. 15-6.

& Fort Wayne Dwenger (0-1) lost to 3A No.4 FW Harding 10 : Danville (1-0) beat Cloverdale 56-6.

6. Goshen (1-0) beat Elkhart Memorial 28-6. 7. East Central (1-0) beat Richmond 33-14.

8. Avon (1-0) beat Brownsburg 14-7.

9. Munster (0-1) lost to Hammond Gavit 21-7.

8. Portage (1-0) beat E. Chicago 55-30. 9. Castle (1-0) beat Jeffersonville 31-26. 10. Evansville Reitz (0-0) vs Union Co. (Ky.) Sat

Class 4A

1. Indpls Cathedral (1-0) beat Indpls Pike 38-7. 2. Hobart (1-0) beat Andrean 30-28. 3. Vincennes (1-0) beat Ev. Central 22-13. 4. Fort Wayne Wayne (0-1) lost to 2A No. 2 FW Luers 31-7.

Class 3A 1. Zionsville (1-0) beat 2A No. 3 N.Montgomery 41-7. 2. NorthWood (0-1) lost to 2A No. 1 Jlmtown 28-14. 3. Heritage Hills (1-0) beat Boonville 38-28. 4. Fort Wayne Harding (1-0) beat 4A No. 5 FW Dwenger

21-14.

5. S.Bend StJoseph’s (1-0) beat SB Clay 21-13. 6. Franklin County (1-0) beat Indpls Northwest 24-14.

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1. Jlmtown (1-0) beat 3A No. 2 NorthWood 28-14. 2. Fort Wayne Luers (1-0) beat 4A No. 4 FW Wayne 28-14. 3. North Montgomery (0-1) lost to 3A No. 1 Zionsville 41-

4. North Posey (1-0) beat Washington 40-20. 5. Evansville Mater Dei (0-0) vs Owensboro (Ky.) Apollo SaL 6. Northwestern (0-1) lost to A No. 2 Carroll (Carroll) 2613. 7. Brownstown (1-0) beat Mitchell 27-6. 8. Bremen (0-1) lost to Plymouth 21-14. 9. Tipton (1-0) beat Frankton 35-6. 10. Madison-Grant (1-0) beat S.Adams 18-14. Cathedral gave an impressive title defense in their first

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game against Pike. The Irish beat the Red Devils 387. (Recorder photo by Walt Thomas.)

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THE INDIANAPOUS RECORDER FRIDAY, AUGUST 29,1997 •till* ' ’I'll/ . , *