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Sparks-Storm Preview

Jul 21, 2009 - 6:15 PM By KATE HEDLIN STATS Writer

Los Angeles (4-8) at Seattle (10-6), 10:00 p.m. EDT

Seattle Storm star Lauren Jackson played her best game of the season at home against the Los Angeles Sparks last month.

If she can return from an injury that kept her sidelined the last two games, Jackson will look to repeat that performance when the Storm take on the struggling Sparks on Wednesday.

Jackson is among the WNBA leaders with 18.9 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, and she received the third-most votes in fan balloting for the All-Star game. She sat out the last two games with an Achilles' strain but may return to face the Sparks (4-8), against whom she scored a season-high 32 points and shot 12 of 15 in a 69-67 win June 26.

The Storm (10-6) won both games that Jackson missed, defeating Minnesota 72-69 on Sunday. Four Seattle players scored in double figures, led by Camille Little, who had a season-high 18 points and added seven rebounds.

Little also drew a charging foul against Candice Wiggins with 3.7 seconds remaining after Seattle had taken a one-point lead.

"It was awesome," the Storm's Tanisha Wright said of Wiggins drawing the charge. "I was more excited about that than I was about my score. It was a great play. If we're going to hang our hats on defense, you've got to be able to smile about that and be excited."

Wright finished with 15 points and scored on a drive to give the Storm a 70-69 lead with 10.3 seconds left.

Little, averaging 8.2 points on the season, scored 13.0 points per game over her last three home contests.

While the Storm are optimistic about getting their best player back, Los Angeles remains uncertain about when Lisa Leslie will return from knee injury. The star center has missed the last seven games.

Los Angeles certainly could have used her in its last contest, an 82-71 loss at Connecticut last Tuesday. The Sparks trailed by 20 en route to their third loss in four games in July.

DeLisha Milton-Jones scored 19 points and Betty Lennox added 17 and 11 rebounds for Los Angeles, the lowest-scoring team in the Western Conference. The Sparks averaged 67.7 points in the first three games of this six-game road trip.

Amid Leslie's injury problems, teammate Candace Parker has slumped since returning from maternity leave. The star forward scored a combined 14 points in her first two games after missing eight, but managed five total points in the last two contests.

"Nobody feels sorry for us," coach Michael Cooper said. "It's all about where we are playing at the end of the year."

Parker didn't play as Los Angeles and Seattle split their first two meetings of the year. She averaged 15.0 points and 6.7 rebounds in the 2008 season series, won 2-1 by Los Angeles.

Parker and the Sparks might have an even tougher time finding ways to score against Seattle, which has held opponents to 69.5 points - near the bottom of the league.