LOS ANGELES -- Lisa Leslie raised her friends' expectations after becoming the first woman to dunk in a professional game.

		Wed., July 31 Lisa Leslie's dunk was a tremendous moment in the evolution of the game. Throughout Wednesday, people couldn't wait to see the highlight on TV. And this time, women and men were anxious to see the replay, so in a sense, at least for a brief time, the dunk might have broadened the league's viewership. It registered with men, and guys who had heard about it wanted to see it. It helped that Leslie was the one to dunk. People -- men, women and kids -- know who she is. She's very recognizable, and everyone knows about all of her accomplishments. The dunk doesn't define Leslie, but only enhances her overall game and athleticism. Because several WNBA players can pitch one on you, the league's first dunk also had been very much anticipated. But it turned out to be pretty cool, and I enjoyed watching it over and over again from every angle.

"They're saying now I've got to reverse it, and the tomahawk is next,'' Leslie said after Wednesday's practice at Staples Center.

Leslie received a pass from Latasha Byears, took two dribbles and dunked with 4:44 left in the half of the Los Angeles Sparks' 82-73 loss to the Miami Sol in a WNBA game Tuesday night at Staples Center.

The 6-foot-5 Leslie said she received many congratulatory telephone calls and pages from friends, and also has a new nickname, Dunkin -- given by her younger sister, Tiffany Sanoguet.

Sparks coach Michael Cooper said Leslie's dunk will build interest in the WNBA.

"The hardcore fan will say, 'We don't like women's basketball because they can't dunk,' " Cooper said. "She's proved that wrong, so now they have to re-evaluate the game. It's going to make people come out to the arenas to see, because you never know who can do it and when it's going to happen.''

WNBA commissioner Val Ackerman agreed with Cooper, saying Leslie's dunk could be the start of something exciting.

"The dunk was another important moment in the evolution of the women's game,'' Ackerman said. "It was great fun to see it finally happen in the WNBA. I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen again by a player like Margo Dydek, Sylvia Crawley, Yolando Griffith or Michelle Snow. I guess Lisa had the stars lined up.''

Leslie said she dunked for the first time when she was a 6-foot-4, 14-year-old freshman during a 1987 track practice that was moved into the school gymnasium because of rain at Morningside High School in Inglewood, Calif.

"After doing long jumps and triple jumps, I switched to do high jumps,'' Leslie said. "Because we were indoors, (my coach said), 'How about we just work on your approach to the rim?' When I touched the rim, then they got a tennis ball and I dunked the tennis ball.''

Leslie said she was also able to dunk a volleyball and basketball during that practice.

There have been five dunks in women's college basketball games. The first was by West Virginia's Georgeann Wells, on Dec. 21, 1984. North Carolina's Charlotte Smith dunked in 1994. Tennessee's Michelle Snow dunked three times during her career, and became the first women to dunk twice in a season in 2001-02.

Leslie said the lack of dunks by women stems from a lack of emphasis on the skill in women's basketball.

"Boys have a tendency to jump around a lot more than girls,'' Leslie said. "Boys have that desire to want to dunk way more than girls do. It just never seemed like something we could truly fathom and do.

"In boys, it's ingrained in their heads that to dunk is just the highlight of basketball, whereas for girls, our shooting technique, making baskets and free throws is taught more. It's such a sexist approach to the sport sometime. Men aren't encouraging their little girls to try to work on their hops. They're encouraging them to work on their jump shots and the fundamentals of the game.''

The Sparks' next game is Thursday night when they play host to Seattle.