Starzz to try lineup continuity vs. Comets

One thing the best team in the WNBA does is keep its good players on the floor.

Houston's Cynthia Cooper, the reigning league MVP and current scoring leader, plays an average of 35 minutes of a 40-minute game.Sheryl Swoopes, Tina Thompson and Kim Perrot are on the bench less than eight minutes a game for the Comets, 19-1 with an ongoing WNBA record of 14 straight wins. Only two other Comets get significant playing time.

In their most-recent win - for new coach Frank Layden on Monday, 90-80 over Phoenix - Utah's Starzz did something similar.

"I have a feeling that one of the things we did (to win) was we kept our talented people on the floor longer," said Layden, emphasizing he meant no criticism of predecessor Denise Taylor, fired Monday. She experimented with lineups so much that every player averaged at least 9.1 minutes.

Using the most talented players "gives them a chance to not only play but to feel good about themselves," Layden said, though it may hurt lesser-used players.

He will likely test that practice again tonight at 6:30 MDT in Houston's Compaq Center when a Starzz team that has won three of its past four for the first time in its 48-game history bangs heads with those Comets again.

Last time Utah was in Houston, it lost by four and thought it should have won. When it played in Utah June 30, it took the Comets two overtimes to win by two.

Only Phoenix has done better against the Comets with a three-point home win and three-point loss in Houston. But the Mercury, Monday victims of Utah, were Tuesday 10-point victims of the Comets in the Valley of the Sun. Houston's average margin of victory is 14.2 points.

"You go with your best players," Layden said. "I may have the wrong players on the floor, by the way," Layden said.

Monday he used four starters (LaTonya Johnson, career-high 15 points; Wendy Palmer, Kim Williams and Chantel Tremitiere) for 30 minutes apiece with each scoring double figures. Center Margo Dydek, 7-foot-2, played 27 minutes with some foul trouble and had five blocked shots. Olympia Scott got 21 off the bench (14 points), Tammi Reiss (first game back from two weeks out with an ankle sprain) 13 and Dena Head 11.