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Sparks fly as Mabika polishes her offense Congo native leads L.A. to contention

By Jose Alfredo Flores
USA TODAY

The Los Angeles Sparks are standing in the WNBA spotlight, emerging as the top challengers to three-time champion Houston.

Yet one of the keys to their success remains an unknown -- Mwadi Mabika.

After Mwadi hit the game-winner May 26 against Washington, fans swarmed Olympians Lisa Leslie and DeLisha Milton; reporters in the Sparks' locker room did the same. Meanwhile Congo native Mabika, who scored the Sparks' final nine points, sat alone wrapping ice on her knees.

''Just another game, just doing my job,'' says Mabika, 23.

Mabika did get the attention of Washington's Chamique Holdsclaw, her defensive assignment that game. ''She's definitely an up-and-coming star,'' Holdsclaw says. ''In the future she's going to be one to watch.''

''Wadi,'' as teammates affectionately call her, has taken her game to another level this year.

Mabika is second on the team in scoring (14.4 a game) and assists (3.4 a game), third in rebounds (5.6 a game) and leads the team in steals (1.9 a game) and three-pointers made (35).

''She's one of the league's greatest players. She's the Michael Jordan of the WNBA,'' Sparks coach Michael Cooper says.

Leslie says, ''She's an All-Star.''

This is a stark contrast to what her life could have been had the Sparks not taken her in tryouts in 1997. Her home, Congo (formerly Zaire), remains racked by economic and social problems.

This season her mother, Helen, received a temporary visa to come to the USA at the request of the WNBA. This is similar to the visa countrymen Dikembe Mutombo of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks and his brother, Tshitinge, obtained for Mabika. The rest of Mabika's family remains in Congo.

''I call my family every day, and I'm always scared for their lives,'' Mabika says. ''Every day, they hear gunshots and they tell me that there is no food because it is in suppression. Each time they call me, it's usually bad news.''

Mabika's mother is one of the main reasons she is in the WNBA.

''She knew I wanted to play basketball. She knew I was in love with it,'' Mabika says. ''So she made sure I always had shoes to play in.''

Mabika began playing with the neighborhood boys in the Lemba section of Kinshasa at age 11. She then played at the club level at 12, the junior nationals at 14 and was one of the leaders in a senior national team of 20- to 30-year-olds when she was only 15.

''I don't feel pressure at all. I actually like it. Playing with the national team helped a lot,'' she says. ''I want to be a leader on this team.''

In her first year in the league she spoke no English and had no car. But being the hard worker she is, she refused the team's offer of an interpreter.

Mabika now converses easily in English, drives the team car -- an Infiniti -- and will have her two brothers, sister and niece join her next month. ''It's going to be great having them around,'' she says. ''Right now, my mom cooks for me, keeps me company and makes it to every home game.''