Starzz, Sparks begin '98 season with hopes of win, redemption

The Starzz could hardly ask for a more intriguing matchup to open their second WNBA season.

Tonight's 7 o'clock bout in the Delta Center finds two teams seeking redemption, Utah for a last- place 7-21 record in 1997, and the Los Angeles Sparks (14-14), one of the WNBA's most-publicized teams last year, for not making the playoffs.Making it even better tonight is two individual showcases.

First, it's the first meeting since Sunday in Germany for the Sparks' Lisa Leslie, whose USA team beat Russia 71-65 for the FIBA World Championship. On that Russian team, of course, was the Starzz' Elena Baranova, who fouled out with 13 points but was named World Championships MVP.

And then there's the Mega Event - Utah's 7-foot-2 Margo "Mega" Dydek, the biggest player ever in the WNBA, against 6-8 Haixia Zheng of the Sparks, who was the league's biggest player until the April 29 WNBA Draft, when Dydek was taken No. 1 by Utah.

The lean Dydek, whose only basketball weaknesses are strength and aggressiveness, says she will not try to meet the bulkier Zheng of China with force. "I don't have chance," she says, in that game. "I will try to shoot outside. I will try to go around her," says Dydek, of Poland.

Baranova, who arrived in Salt Lake City Tuesday night after a 131/2-hour flight from Moscow, says she'll not get extra motivation from seeing Leslie on the DC court just four days after the Russians lost a 12-point lead and the game in Germany.

"We are talking about two different teams playing," Baranova said through her interpreter, Maxim Morozov. "If I would play (against her) right now for my Russian team, it would be a different story," Baranova said Wednesday afternoon at her only Starzz' practice since last August.

Baranova said she enjoyed the Worlds because the tournament was well-organized. The MVP title, and its prize, an expensive laptop computer that Baranova says she's now trying to learn to use, was "very prestigious," she said. "I did not expect," she said. But it was her second MVP title in the last few weeks as she was also MVP of the qualifying tournament.

The 6-foot-5 Russian said her only improvement from the last WNBA season is "in health." She revealed that she'd had a gall bladder operation prior to the '97 WNBA campaign; she'd not mentioned that last season.

Starzz coach Denise Taylor said Baranova is ready to play, though she was logy Wednesday. "She was saying, `I'm sleepy,' but she picks it up pretty well," Taylor said.

Baranova must learn six new teammates, but she said the system is the same, so she doesn't feel lost. She must also get used to the WNBA ball, which is smaller than used in Europe. This year's ball also has a "tackier" feel; last year players thought it became slip-pery.

Taylor made her final two cuts Wednesday afternoon to get down to the 11-woman roster that's allowed. BYU's Kari Gallup and Greta Koss of Montana, who made the Starzz last year, were the final trims. The opening-night roster includes guards Tricia Bader, Dena Head, Tammi Reiss, Chantel Tremitiere and Kim Williams, centers Dydek and Baranova and forwards LaTonya Johnson, Wendy Palmer and Olympia Scott and swing player Fran Harris.