Sparks Make the Playoffs

Now they can call her “Cool Hand G.G.”

Gordana Grubin, better known as G.G. to her teammates, made back-to-back three-point baskets and grabbed a crucial rebound down the stretch to bail the Sparks out of a four-game losing streak with a 76-65 victory over the Charlotte Sting.

Another surprise: The crowd was 9,243, on a night when the club expected 6,500.

Not that it was life or death, or even playoff critical.

Both teams had playoff berths clinched before they took the floor.

The Sparks will meet Sacramento in an Aug. 24 Western Conference playoff game at a site to be determined. Charlotte, which lost its fourth consecutive game, will meet Detroit or Orlando in the Eastern Conference.

Coach Orlando Woolridge, after watching his team lose to Detroit, Sacramento, Houston and Washington, breathed easier after this one.

“I said to them before the game ‘Ladies, you are the best team in this league. Just because you lose a few games . . . that just means you’re human,’ ” he said.

“It feels good--now we can take a deep breath and move on. We were mentally tired, that last trip was tough.”

Lisa Leslie paced the Sparks with 25 points, but La’Keshia Frett, who had a career-high 10 rebounds, made several major plays down the stretch. And only she, it turned out, wasn’t aware the Sparks had clinched the playoff spot.

“I really didn’t know, and I’m glad I didn’t,” she said.

“I was playing like we needed that win to get in. We were mentally tired, and the trip was hard on my knees. I’m tall (6-foot-3) and I play a lot of basketball games, so my knees swell up on airplanes.”

Grubin, the hot-shooting Serbian, got orders at halftime: Shoot.

“I told her at the half we needed her to be more aggressive offensively,” Woolridge said.

With 4:36 left, and after Leslie had given the Sparks a 62-59 lead with two free throws, Grubin made her first three-point basket to give L.A. a 65-59 lead and energize the crowd for the first time.

Almost three minutes later she made another for a 68-63 lead.

With 1:27 left, Frett made the clinching play.

Trying to rebound a miss by the Sting’s Rhonda Mapp, Frett was fouled underneath by Charlotte Smith and she made two free throws for a 70-63 lead.

Then Grubin made another big play, rebounding Mapp’s missed three-point attempt with 46 seconds left and the Sparks ahead, 71-63.

Did Grubin know her team was in the playoffs?

“Yes, I heard them say so on TV,” she said.

Around the WNBA

Cynthia Cooper scored a season-high 42 points and the Houston Comets (24-5) defeated the visiting Utah Starzz (13-17), 80-71, before 10,014. . . . Katie Smith scored 17 points and the Minnesota Lynx (14-15) overcame an early 12-point deficit to defeat the Cleveland Rockers (6-24), 57-50, before 11,230 at Minneapolis.

WNBA Notes

Former Comet point guard Kim Perrot, her body ravaged by cancer, remained in serious condition in a Houston hospital as her teammates wore white stickers bearing Perrot’s No. 10 against Utah. Some fans fans wore white ribbons honoring Perrot while others wore pink hearts with “Kim” inscribed on them. During the final seconds, fans chanted “We love you, Kim.” Perrot was told in late January that unchecked lung cancer had spread to her brain.