# 1998 Los Angeles Sparks season

The 1998 WNBA season was the second for the Los Angeles Sparks. The Sparks missed out of the playoffs for the second consecutive season. It would be the last season they missed the playoffs until the 2007 season.

## Transactions
### Washington Mystics expansion draft

The following player was selected in the Washington Mystics expansion draft from the Los Angeles Sparks:
| Player | Nationality | School/Team/Country |
| Heidi Burge | United States | Virginia |

### WNBA draft

| Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | School/Team/Country |
| 1 | 5 | Allison Feaster | United States | Harvard |
| 2 | 15 | Octavia Blue | United States | Miami |
| 3 | 25 | Rehema Stephens | United States | UCLA |
| 4 | 35 | Erica Kienast | United States | UC Santa Barbara |

### Transactions

| Date | Transaction |
| February 18, 1998 | Lost Heidi Burge to the Washington Mystics in the WNBA expansion draft |
| April 9, 1998 | Traded Linda Burgess to the Sacramento Monarchs in exchange for Pamela McGee |
| April 29, 1998 | Drafted Allison Feaster, Octavia Blue, Rehema Stephens and Erica Kienast in the 1998 WNBA Draft |
| May 11, 1998 | Waived Daedra Charles and Kim Gessig |
| May 11, 1998 | Signed Erin Alexander, Eugenia Rycraw and Sandra Van Embricqs |
| July 10, 1998 | Waived Erin Alexander |
| July 10, 1998 | Signed Michelle Reed |
| July 16, 1997 | Fired Julie Rousseau as Head Coach |
| July 16, 1997 | Hired Orlando Woolridge as Head Coach |

## Schedule
### Regular season

1998 game log Total: 12–18 (Home: 8–8; Road: 4–10) :
June: 2–6 (Home: 1–2; Road: 1–4)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
1
June 11
@ Utah
W 89–83
Lisa Leslie (24)
Lisa Leslie (12)
Penny Toler (6)
Delta Center
1–0
2
June 14
@ Phoenix
L 70–60
Lisa Leslie (18)
Lisa Leslie (10)
Katrina Colleton (4)
America West Arena
1–1
3
June 16
@ Sacramento
L 69–73
Tamecka Dixon (21)
Lisa Leslie (11)
Colleton Dixon (3)
ARCO Arena
1–2
4
June 19
New York
W 78–75
Haixia Leslie (19)
Lisa Leslie (21)
Penny Toler (5)
Great Western Forum
2–2
5
June 21
Houston
L 63–79
Tamecka Dixon (18)
Lisa Leslie (11)
Dixon Toler (3)
Great Western Forum
2–3
6
June 24
Charlotte
L 73–77
Lisa Leslie (30)
Pamela McGee (7)
Jamila Wideman (4)
Great Western Forum
2–4
7
June 27
@ Houston
L 64–75
Tamecka Dixon (17)
Lisa Leslie (11)
Penny Toler (3)
Compaq Center
2–5
8
June 30
@ Sacramento
L 56–58
Lisa Leslie (21)
Lisa Leslie (8)
Jamila Wideman (4)
ARCO Arena
2–6 :
July: 6–7 (Home: 5–5; Road: 1–2)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
9
July 2
Utah
L 57–58
Lisa Leslie (15)
Lisa Leslie (10)
Dixon Leslie Mabika (4)
Great Western Forum
2–7
10
July 7
Charlotte
W 86–79
Lisa Leslie (24)
Lisa Leslie (7)
Mabika Toler (5)
Great Western Forum
3–7
11
July 8
Sacramento
L 71–76
Tamecka Dixon (20)
Lisa Leslie (11)
Tamecka Dixon (4)
Great Western Forum
3–8
12
July 12
Cleveland
W 87–66
Penny Toler (22)
Lisa Leslie (11)
Penny Toler (9)
Great Western Forum
4–8
13
July 13
@ Phoenix
L 62–72
Lisa Leslie (13)
Lisa Leslie (13)
Dixon Toler Wideman (2)
America West Arena
4–9
14
July 15
Sacramento
W 81–76 (OT)
Tamecka Dixon (22)
Lisa Leslie (7)
Leslie Toler (6)
Great Western Forum
5–9
15
July 17
Houston
L 68–74
Lisa Leslie (18)
Pamela McGee (9)
Penny Toler (7)
Great Western Forum
5–10
16
July 21
New York
L 77–92
Lisa Leslie (24)
Lisa Leslie (9)
Dixon Leslie Toler (5)
Great Western Forum
5–11
17
July 23
Phoenix
W 70–68
Tamecka Dixon (23)
Mwadi Mabika (8)
Mwadi Mabika (4)
Great Western Forum
6–11
18
July 25
@ Detroit
L 67–69
Tamecka Dixon (26)
Octavia Blue (7)
Dixon Toler Wideman (2)
The Palace of Auburn Hills
6–12
19
July 27
@ Cleveland
L 67–83
Mwadi Mabika (16)
Mwadi Mabika (8)
Penny Toler (6)
Gund Arena
6–13
20
July 29
@ Washington
W 77–68
Tamecka Dixon (20)
Lisa Leslie (13)
Lisa Leslie (5)
MCI Center
7–13
21
July 31
Phoenix
W 71–56
Leslie Mabika (15)
Leslie Mabika (8)
Penny Toler (8)
Great Western Forum
8–13 :
August: 4–5 (Home: 2–1; Road: 2–4)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
22
August 1
@ Utah
W 73–65
Lisa Leslie (24)
Lisa Leslie (9)
Penny Toler (5)
Delta Center
9–13
23
August 3
Washington
W 86–72
Lisa Leslie (21)
Mwadi Mabika (10)
Penny Toler (6)
Great Western Forum
10–13
24
August 5
@ Detroit
L 61–73
Lisa Leslie (30)
Pamela McGee (12)
Penny Toler (4)
The Palace of Auburn Hills
10–14
25
August 8
@ New York
L 62–80
Penny Toler (14)
Katrina Colleton (6)
Mwadi Mabika (3)
Madison Square Garden
10–15
26
August 9
@ Washington
L 74–76
Lisa Leslie (23)
Lisa Leslie (16)
Penny Toler (7)
MCI Center
10–16
27
August 12
@ Charlotte
W 65–52
Lisa Leslie (21)
Lisa Leslie (14)
Penny Toler (6)
Charlotte Coliseum
11–16
28
August 14
Utah
W 87–67
Lisa Leslie (18)
Lisa Leslie (14)
Penny Toler (14)
Great Western Forum
12–16
29
August 16
Detroit
L 76–77
Lisa Leslie (30)
Lisa Leslie (14)
Penny Toler (9)
Great Western Forum
12–17
30
August 19
@ Houston
L 71–80
Lisa Leslie (24)
Lisa Leslie (9)
Penny Toler (6)
Compaq Center
12–18 :
1998 season schedule :

### Season standings

| Western Conference | W | L | PCT | Conf. | GB |
| Houston Comets $^x$ | 27 | 3 | .900 | 15–1 | – |
| Phoenix Mercury $^x$ | 19 | 11 | .633 | 10–6 | 8.0 |
| Los Angeles Sparks $^o$ | 12 | 18 | .400 | 6–10 | 15.0 |
| Sacramento Monarchs $^o$ | 8 | 22 | .267 | 5–11 | 19.0 |
| Utah Starzz $^o$ | 8 | 22 | .267 | 4–12 | 19.0 |

## Statistics
### Regular Season

| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
| Tamecka Dixon | 22 | 22 | 32.3 | .438 | .356 | .779 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 16.2 |
| Lisa Leslie | 28 | 28 | 32.1 | .478 | .391 | .768 | 10.2 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 2.1 | 19.6 |
| Penny Toler | 30 | 30 | 31.5 | .415 | .417 | .743 | 3.5 | 4.8 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 12.3 |
| Mwadi Mabika | 29 | 23 | 24.5 | .339 | .308 | .698 | 4.4 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 8.2 |
| Katrina Colleton | 30 | 14 | 19.2 | .303 | .263 | .833 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 2.7 |
| Pamela McGee | 30 | 22 | 19.0 | .437 | .000 | .614 | 4.8 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 6.8 |
| Sandra Van Embricqs | 28 | 2 | 16.8 | .483 | N/A | .500 | 2.7 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 3.4 |
| Zheng Haixia | 6 | 2 | 16.3 | .625 | N/A | .714 | 4.3 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 7.5 |
| Allison Feaster | 3 | 0 | 13.7 | .214 | .200 | 1.000 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 3.3 |
| Jamila Wideman | 25 | 0 | 13.2 | .279 | .250 | .724 | 0.9 | 2.3 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 1.9 |
| Eugenia Rycraw | 20 | 4 | 11.3 | .469 | N/A | .727 | 2.5 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 2.3 |
| Octavia Blue | 30 | 3 | 11.0 | .338 | .286 | .625 | 1.6 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 2.4 |
| Erin Alexander | 8 | 0 | 9.1 | .318 | .375 | 1.000 | 1.9 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 2.8 |
| Michelle Reed | 9 | 0 | 5.4 | .273 | .250 | .583 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.6 |
$^‡$Waived/Released during the season $^†$Traded during the season $^≠$Acquired during the season