Houston ? Referee Bill Stokes collapsed during Tuesday night’s WNBA playoff game between the Houston Comets and Utah Starzz.

Shortly after the start of the second half, Stokes walked over to the scorer’s table, then suddenly fell to the court. He was quickly attended to by medical officials from both teams and was rushed to a hospital.

Comets officials said Stokes was admitted to Southwest Memorial Hospital in critical, but stable condition.

WNBA president Val Ackerman left the game and went to the hospital.

The game resumed after a 25-minute delay with Lisa Mattingly and Roy Gulbeyan officiating without Stokes. Both officials declined to comment after the game.

“That decision was made by the WNBA,” Comets coach Van Chancellor said. “They just told me we were going to play in five minutes.”

Utah beat Houston, 75-72, to win the best-of-three Western Conference semifinal series.

“At that time he was stable and breathing on his own,” Chancellor said.

“Sure, I think the league is going to get criticized but I didn’t see any other solution. It was just a tough loss any way you slice it.

“It was a tough night for us, tough night for him.”

The cause of Stokes’ collapse wasn’t immediately known.

A hush fell over the crowd of 9,540 at Compaq Center when Stokes fell beside the scorer’s table. Before play resumed, the crowd spoke the Lord’s Prayer in unison.

“He’s a dear friend of mine and he’s been a referee as long as I’ve been a coach,” Utah coach Candi Harvey said. “What a first class organization this team and their fans are.”

The Comets were slow to get back into the game when play resumed.

“It was pretty difficult,” Sheryl Swoopes said. “The hardest part is staying focused and getting back out there and getting in the game but we can’t make excuses, because Utah kept their concentration and composure. It could have easily been any one of us.”

Liberty 75, Fever 50

New York After helping to contain Tamika Catchings, Vickie Johnson turned up the offense to lift the New York Liberty to their fifth Eastern Conference playoff finals.

Johnson scored 11 of her 19 points in the second half to lead the Liberty past the Indiana Fever. Tamika Whitmore added 17 points in the finale of the first-round conference playoffs.

The Liberty will face the Washington Mystics at the MCI Center on Thursday in the best-of-three series.

Johnson finished 8-for-14 from the field with seven rebounds and six assists.

“VJ is our most complete player on the floor,” New York coach Richie Adubato said.

“She had two sub-par games, and hit the weight room. That’s the type of player she is. She gives up six inches and 20 pounds (to Tamika Catchings).”

Catchings hit the floor frequently as the Liberty roughed up the WNBA’s rookie of the year, holding her to 12 points on 4-for-12 shooting. She entered the game with a playoff-leading 24.5 point average.

“Needless to say, that was their game plan,” said Catchings, who fell hard on her right hand in the first half. The X-ray on her hand was negative.