Sparks' Lisa Leslie has big game against Cleveland

The Washington Mystics are in a free-fall mode.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES -- Lisa Leslie had 26 points and 13 rebounds on her 31st birthday, leading the Los Angeles Sparks to an 81-75 victory Monday night over the Cleveland Rockers.
Mwadi Mabika added 17 points, 11 in the first half. Nikki Teasley had 15 points -- six on free throws in the final 25.6 seconds -- and 11 assists for Los Angeles (14-3).
Reserve Betty Lennox scored 20 points, and Chasity Melvin 17 for Cleveland (7-8), which has lost six of eight road games.
The Sparks made 27 of 30 free throws, including their final 26.
The Sparks broke a 61-61 tie with 5:04 to play by scoring 10 straight points over a span of 2:34. Leslie began the run by making two free throws, then followed with a 3-point basket.
Los Angeles led 36-33 at the break, but missed 11 of its first 12 shots to open the second half. The Rockers went on a 13-2 run early in the half, taking a 48-42 lead with 13:35 to play.
The Sparks scored 10 straight, capped by Teasley's 3-point basket to move ahead 56-54 with 7:13 remaining.
There were four lead changes and one tie before Los Angeles went in front for good.
Sting 62, Mystics 56
WASHINGTON -- Both Charlotte's starting five and its bench spent the first eight minutes of Monday night's game with Washington standing around.
Still, Shalonda Enis managed to score 13 of her 15 points in the second half to lead the Sting to a 62-56 win over the Mystics.
"We couldn't hit anything, nothing was falling" said Enis, who also claimed there were no complaints from the bench about the lack of offense. "We're not that type of team. We just encourage each other.
"We all knew it was going to fall eventually."
If anyone needed encouragement it was the Mystics (2-13), who dropped their 10th straight and didn't take a free-throw attempt in the game.
Coco Miller scored a season-high 20 to lead Washington, which can tie a franchise record for consecutive losses if it falls at home Wednesday night to Los Angeles.
Charlotte (11-6) went the first eight minutes without scoring before Dawn Staley hit a 3-pointer to make it 11-3.
Things could have been so much worse for the Sting, but the Mystics shot just 31 percent from the field during their opening run despite forcing 10 turnovers.
"We didn't take it to them as much when we had them down," Miller said. "We could have put the hammer down on them earlier and we didn't take advantage of some of the opportunities that we had.
"You can't have those lapses, that's what has hurt us all year is those mental lapses. Our defense was really good in the first half, but unfortunately we weren't shooting very well."