Sheryl Swoopes and Houston stormed past Seattle, 84-59, on Tuesday. Jeff Reinking/NBAE/Getty Images WNBA Photo Gallery: May 23, 2006

Smith TODAY'S TOP STORY Charlotte Sting forward Tangela Smith reached the 3,000-point plateau in Tuesday's 72-65 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks. Her 3,000th point came on a layup with 56.9 remaining in the fourth quarter. She finished with 13 points and became the 10th player in WNBA history to reach the milestone. ALSO MAKING HEADLINES ... A New Low: The Liberty suffered their worst loss in franchise history Tuesday, falling to the Mystics, 95-60 in the nation's capital. New York fell behind 27-8 at the end of the first quarter but cut the deficit to 14 at halftime. The second half, however, was all Washington, which scored 35 points off 28 Liberty turnovers to pull away down the stretch. Griffith WHAT THEY'RE SAYING "This should have been one of the first places they tried to get a team." -- Sacramento center Yolanda Griffith, on the WNBA's expansion into Chicago. The Monarchs defeated the Sky, 76-63, in the first WNBA game played in the Windy City.

Beard WHO'S HOT Alana Beard, WAS: 25 pts, 11-12 FG, 2-2 3-pt FG Tina Thompson, HOU: 19 pts, 7-10 FG, 3-4 3-pt FG Nicole Powell, SAC: 19 pts, 8-13 FG, 3-6 3-pt FG

Newton WHO'S NOT Chelsea Newton, CHI: 1-11 FG, 1-4 3-pt FG, 9 pts Sheri Sam, CHA: 2-10 FG, 0-3 3-pt FG, 6 pts Betty Lennox, SEA: 5-14 FG, 0-5 3-pt FG, 10 pts

Augustus ROOKIE WATCH Seimone Augustus, the 2006 WNBA No. 1 draft pick, made her career debut for the Minnesota Lynx on Tuesday and scored a team-high 21 points. She struggled from the floor, shooting just 38.9 percent, but hit 7-of-8 from the charity stripe and grabbed five rebounds. Unfortunately for Augustus, the Lynx fell to the Sun, 81-69.

Leslie FILLING THE BOX SCORE Lisa Leslie's performance Tuesday night proved that the 10-year WNBA veteran is only getting better with age. She scored 27 points on 11-of-16 from the floor and pulled down 16 rebounds. Leslie added two assists, a steal and a block for good measure.