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Quest complete Comets down Liberty in overtime to wrap up fourth title
HOUSTON (Ticker) -- Cynthia Cooper went out the way she came in.
Cooper and the Houston Comets came from behind late and pulled away in overtime for their fourth straight WNBA Championship with a 79-73 victory over the New York Liberty on Saturday at the Compaq Center in Houston.
Cooper, 37, who earned WNBA Championship Most Valuable Player honors for the fourth time in as many seasons, may have played her last game. She said earlier this year that this season likely would be her last.
"Right now, I am just savoring the moment," an emotional Cooper said. "This is a great moment for women's basketball and women's players. We could have just said, `There is another game tomorrow.' Right now, I just want to enjoy the kind of success. It's great to be a Houston Comet."
Houston became the first professional basketball team in the United States to win four straight titles since the NBA's Boston Celtics captured eight in a row from 1959-66. And Cooper again was the catalyst.
She burned the Liberty in Game One by burying an off-balance three-point play with 26 seconds remaining that sealed a 59-52 victory at Madison Square Garden. On Saturday, in front of 16,285 fans on her home floor, the two-time league MVP scored nine of her team's final 18 points and nailed a 3-pointer with 21 seconds left in regulation to forge a 64-64 tie.
Cooper added six points in overtime and finished with 25 as the Comets completed their perfect 6-0 run through the postseason to remain the only champions the WNBA has ever known.
Cooper was swarmed by her teammates at the buzzer and lifted onto their shoulders as the Compaq Center went wild at the Liberty's expense for the second straight season and third time in four years.
"You want to ask me which one is the sweetest. It's this one, no question," Houston coach Van Chancellor said. "My only goal now is to get on the front page of USA Today. Everyone tabbed the Los Angeles Sparks the champs before the season even started. Then it was Sacramento. ... Everybody but us."
Sheryl Swoopes scored 31 points and Tina Thompson added 11 and eight rebounds for Houston. Both were appreciative of the contributions Cooper made to the latest title run by the "Big Three."
"She brought so much to every game and I knew that she was going in hard every game," Thompson said. "She created a lot of havoc for every opponent. I don't want her to go, nobody does. But she is leaving on the highest of highs, being the MVP of all four championships."
The Comets finished the campaign with 11 straight wins and went 17-2 at home.
Tara Phillips scored 20 points for the Liberty, who earned Cooper's respect despite another missed title opportunity.
"I think (the Liberty) played a great game," Cooper said. "What a great final game of this championship series. We know they made us work very hard for everything in this series. And in the end it came down to the choices you make, and they had to pay for some of those choices by getting into foul trouble."
© 2003 SportsTicker Enterprises, LP
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