MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Mwadi Mabika had 16 points as the Los Angeles Sparks beat the Minnesota Lynx 69-58 Sunday.

The Sparks (24-7), coming off an emotional home loss to the Houston Comets, went on a 23-4 run late in the second half.

"Defense was the key to everything," Sparks coach Michael Cooper said. "We threw a few different looks at them and were able to play good D while putting up a few points."

Katie Smith and Georgia Schweitzer each had 13 points for Minnesota (10-21), which clinched the worst team mark in its four-year history.

Leading by two at the break, the Sparks scored nine in a row to start the second half. Lisa Leslie keyed the run with six points and finished with 13.

"We expected them to have three or four runs, but once they caught back up, we took it up a notch," Leslie said. "In the second half, we did a better job of finding open players and guarding Smith."

Minnesota answered with five three-pointers and took a 47-46 lead with nine minutes to play, before the Sparks' run put the game away.

"Anytime we tried to make a move, they had an answer," Schweitzer said. "They went to a zone defense a few times and changed the way they were guarding Katie and that really affected how smoothly our offense ran."

The Sparks got a team-best six rebounds from Nikki Teasley while Tamika Williams had six rebounds for Minnesota.

Notes: With the loss, Minnesota is now 1-24 all-time against Los Angeles and Houston, and 51-51 against the rest of the WNBA. ... The Sparks' DeLisha Milton and Tamecka Dixon were added to the United States team's roster for the Women's World Basketball Championship. Leslie and Smith were already on the roster. ... Minnesota forward Svetlana Abrosimova sat out for the second consecutive game with a lower back strain. Abrosimova, who has missed four games in 2002, is listed as doubtful for the season finale at Houston on Tuesday.

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