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league’s three-year history.
Springfield’s Kara Wolters continued on her quest to get herself a spot on the roster of the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun with her third straight 20-plus point performance. Wolters scored a game-high 20 points and pulled down a season-high 13 rebounds as the Spirit beat the Power for the fourth time this season before 1,561 fans at Mohegan Sun - the home of the WNBA’s newest squad.
Swin Cash, despite being slowed by the flu, had 20 points while Cindy Blodgett added 15 points. Sue Bird scored 14 and Stacy Clinesmith added 12 off the bench. The Spirit can earn the best regular season mark by winning its last two games.
Springfield led by as many as 13 points and twice let the visiting Power (6-10) cut the lead to one and two points, respectively. The Spirit responded with runs of 14-2 and 12-2 to cement the victory.
"We need to play a full 40 minutes," Spirit coach Eileen Mastrio said. "When we play defense just a little bit, boom. We’re up by 10."
Wolters had a big hand in those runs. She pulled down some key rebounds, started some fast breaks with sharp outlet passes and played well inside.
In the last three games, Wolters has scored 20, 22 and 20 points with 6, 11 and 13 rebounds.
She has made no secret of the fact that she would rather play in Connecticut this summer instead of Sacramento, where she has played for the past two seasons.
"She has made her position well known," Sun general manager Chris Sienko said. "We read the papers. But what we decide to do is what is in the best interest of our team. We have a lot of post players already."
The Sun added Rebecca Lobo earlier this spring, getting her from Houston for a second-round pick.
Wolters, a Holliston, Mass. native, played only 14 games with Sacramento last summer. She started slow with pneumonia but soon left the team to spend time with her mother, Flo, who developed lung cancer. Flo
is still undergoing chemotherapy to battle the disease.
On the court, the 6-foot-7 Wolters has felt relaxed with the Spirit. Being close to her mom and playing with her old friends has been uplifting.
"I’m not going to get pulled off the court for making one mistake here," she said. "I feel I have to prove myself every day, every play [in the WNBA].
"Here I’m home, I’m healthy and I’m with my mom. Mentally it makes it so much easier for me, being here with my friends and doing what I love," she said.
Her parents own a summer home in Waterford.
Wolters said she would accept a role coming off the bench for the Sun.
"Although I would try to make it very difficult for them to keep me on the bench [by playing well]," she said with a grin.
And in the end, if it doesn’t work out, she’ll go back to Sacramento. "I think I might be in big trouble if I go back to Sacramento," she said playfully.
Birmingham led by seven after the first two minutes of the contest and led by five after five minutes. But led by Cash and Wolters, Springfield used a 13-2 run to seize control of the contest courtesy of some crisp passing.
"People are getting very comfortable with each other and with each other’s strengths," Blodgett said. "We create some tough matchups [for the defense] when we move the ball that quickly."
In the second half, Birmingham erased an 11-point lead and cut the Spirit lead to one, 60-59, with 13:20 to go. But Wolters hit a jumper, Bird nailed a three-point goal and sank a baseline jumper after a nice outlet pass from Wolters following a defensive rebound in a 14-2 run.
Tiffany Travis had 10 points for the Power while Coco Miller scored 15 points.
RIM DUST: Lobo missed the game with a sinus infection ..Chicago finished with a 16-4 record a year ago but Springfield can finish 17-4 with wins over Chicago next Thursday and a win over Grand Rapids on Thursday, April 10, both games in Springfield ..Wolters was shagging rebounds for the kids of Sun coach Mike Thibault before the game. "This is getting pathetic," she joked
Gerry deSimas, Jr. can be reached at CTwrestling7@yahoo.com.
