Leslie is 1st to 6,000 points

Lisa Leslie had 21 points and 11 rebounds, and became the first WNBA player to reach 6,000 career points as the Sparks beat the Indiana Fever, 75-63, on Monday night.

Leslie reached the milestone with an 11-foot jumper as the shot-clock buzzer sounded with 11.9 seconds left in the second quarter.

Candace Parker added 14 points and Noelle Quinn had 10 points for the Sparks (8-11), who shot a season-high 51 percent in getting their fourth victory in six games.

Katie Douglas scored 16 points for the Eastern Conference-leading Fever (17-5), whose five-game winning streak ended. Tamika Catchings added 15 points and Briann January had 10 points.

Lisa Leslie returns to the Sparks!

Sparks center Lisa Leslie returned to practice for the first time since missing the last three games because of a right knee sprain she had June 19 against the Phoenix Mercury. She said she was cleared to shoot but is still abstaining from running drills.

"I'm doing so much better and I'm feeling good," said Leslie, who hopes to practice fully by the end of the week.

Their gradual comeback coincides with the Sparks' winning two of their last three games, including an 82-55 victory over the league's top team, the Seattle Storm (6-3). During Leslie's absence, the Sparks had at least three players score in double digits.

Neither Parker nor Leslie plan to play in the Sparks next game on July 5 at home against the Phoenix Mercury, but Coach Michael Cooper was looking ahead.

"It's nice to see what the team could possibly look like in the future," Cooper said. "Everybody was kind of glad because they can see our team forming and we're playing extremely good basketball right now."

The Sparks, however, are winless on the road and their 3-5 record puts them in fifth place in the Western Conference, 2 1/2 games behind the Storm for the top spot in the standings. It's a position the Sparks expected to be in.

But Parker has not let what has transpired on the court change her recovery plans.

"I'm always going to push the limit and get out as fast as I can whether we're undefeated or we're losing," she said. "I set this as a goal to be back in practice and I'm excited about that."

Last Tuesday, Parker shot jumpers for a total of about 30 minutes, and had predicted she soon would return to practice. Cooper says Parker's conditioning will determine how quickly he phases her into the rotation, which he expects will involve four- or five-minute bursts before eventually playing 30 to 35 minutes a game.

As for Leslie, the three-time MVP indicated that the bruise on her right knee has kept her from bending the whole way but added, "I'm recovering a lot faster than what our doctors thought."

She said she took 200 jump shots Tuesday, and has ridden a bike for 15 minutes a day at 75% resistance. She's not sure whether she'll travel on the Sparks next road trip to New York (July 9) and Washington (July 11). The team had expected for her to be gone at least through July 11.

Amid the uncertainty, Cooper found one consistent quality that he says has made the process easier.

"Both of them are such competitors and they play the game at a high level," he said. "They push themselves even when the coach doesn't push them."

mark.medina@latimes.com

good will tour

Lisa Reached Out with Michelle Obama

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Michelle Obama brought along some famous women to various Washington-area high schools on Thursday to discuss the importance of setting career goals.

Among the participating celebs were pop singer Alicia Keys, opera star Denyce Graves, actress Kerry Washington, astronaut Mae Jemison, actress Alfre Woodard, "Girlfriends" star Tracee Ellis Ross, WNBA player Lisa Leslie Lockwood, Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes and sister-actors Debbie Allen and Phylicia Rashad.

While Mrs. Obama visited Anacostia High School on her own, the rest of the women fanned out to 10 other schools in D.C. and the suburbs. The wife of U.S. President Barack Obama says that pulling together a day like this has been a dream of hers for some time.

Sheryl Crow, Fran Drescher, Bobbi Brown. Penny Pritzker and Gen. Ann Dunwoody also participated in the visits.The entire star-powered group was slated to attend a White House dinner with Michelle Obama and another group of school students later Thursday.