Both SASS and NY got hit

by something orange yesterday.

In San Antonio, the Silver Stars kept creeping back, but Parker swatted away any hope  – LA moves on.

In NY, things were going along rather swimmingly for the Lib, until Kara “fess up, you never thought I’d make it in the WNBA, much less win Olympic gold” Lawson completed a four-point play followed by a wide-open three. Bye-bye NY – CT awaits the next round.

Neither LA nor CT were particularly impressive (though I’d bet a nickel Debbie enjoyed the West games more than the East games – and I will admit, I like me a high scoring game as much as anyone), but that’s not the point right now. Winning and moving on to the Conference Finals is.

All eyes are on today’s games (Harding leads Dream to a steal; Lynx hold on by their claws).

Speaking of the Dream – from Full Court:“Basketball is everything to me”: De Souza’s story of struggle and triumph

And their opponent, Indy: – from the Star: Indiana Fever coach Lin Dunn keeps pushing toward goals

Dunn described herself as a die-hard Democrat and has aligned herself with women’s causes. At the 2011 women’s NCAA Final Four in Indianapolis, she was honorary chairman of an event for the National Center for Lesbian Rights. She said she was influenced by discrimination against blacks in the South.

“I grew up seeing that. And it was heart-breaking,” she said. “Now I continue to see how gays and lesbians are discriminated against. I just cannot hardly tolerate any type of discrimination. It’s really hard for me. I think that was instilled in me by my grandparents.”

If only every member of the WBCA had her courage and conviction to do the right thing.

Mechelle says the Storm is all-business for Game 2

Storm veteran Katie Smith knows how tough it is to try to repeat as WNBA champion. She came close to doing it with Detroit in 2006-07, but the Shock lost the latter year in a five-game series with Phoenix.

So Smith has been keeping an eye on defending champion Minnesota this season, watching to see how the Lynx are doing with the mental grind of attempting to win two titles in a row.

“Watching them play, from the outside, they haven’t relaxed,” Smith said. “You see there’s not a lack of intensity. People are diving on the floor; against Atlanta [on Sept. 7] they went two overtimes and gritted that out. They take pride in what they do. It tells you they’ve got their minds on business. It’s not, ‘We’re the champs and we can walk out and just win.’ They go out and prove it.”