Los Angeles ? Mwadi Mabika scored 24 points as the Los Angeles Sparks rolled to a 79-54 victory Sunday over the Sacramento Monarchs and evened the WNBA Western Conference finals at 1-1.

The Sparks led by as many as 28 points before halftime, allowing coach Michael Cooper to rest many of Los Angeles’ starters for Game 3 tonight at Staples Center.

Lisa Leslie sat for the final 10 minutes and scored 16 points, former Kansas University standout Tamecka Dixon had 14 points in 29 minutes, and point guard Nikki Teasley tied Mabika with a team-leading eight rebounds and added 10 assists.

Cooper attributed Mabika’s success to Leslie, who was double-teamed by the Monarchs.

“Sacramento’s such a great defensive team,” Cooper said. “And they do a great job of weakside help. So we wanted to get (Mabika) up to the top of the key when they collapsed on (Leslie).”

Forward Tangela Smith led the Monarchs with 15 points and had a game-high 10 rebounds.

Shock 79, Sun 73

Auburn Hills, Mich. — Swin Cash scored 20 points, and Deanna Nolan added 17 before leaving with a back injury as Detroit earned a berth in the WNBA finals.

Detroit, which swept Connecticut in the best-of-three series and was 6-0 for the year, will play the winner of tonight’s decisive Game 3 in the Sacramento-Los Angeles series. The finals begin Friday.

Cheryl Ford, who had a career playoff-high 17 points, made two free throws with 39 seconds left to make it 75-69 and cap a 10-0 Shock run.

Taj McWilliams-Franklin led the Sun with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Shannon Johnson added 16 points.