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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

WNBA : East seeks streak against West

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

The Eastern Conference lost the first six WNBA All-Star games before breaking through with a victory last year. Now, the East wants to establish its own streak in the midseason contest set for today.

“Of course, you always want to win, especially in the All-Star game, especially when you know you’ve only won one,” Detroit’s Deanna Nolan said. “The past reasons I think we haven’t been winning is we’ve been coming out thinking it’s all fun, and the West comes serious. Now, we have to be serious from the start.”

Nolan will be joined in the East’s starting lineup by Shock teammates Cheryl Ford and Kara Braxton, and Indiana’s Tamika Catchings and Anna DeForge. After four Connecticut players helped the East to last year’s 98-82 win in New York, Nolan is hoping the team can benefit from a familiarity once again.

Although the West will be without usual All-Stars Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes and Sue Bird, the team will start four of the league’s top seven scorers – Seattle’s Lauren Jackson (22.4. points per game), San Antonio’s Becky Hammon (19.1), Phoenix’s Diana Taurasi (18.8) and Houston’s Tina Thompson (18.3).

“The West is fun,” Hammon said. “It’s a run-and-gun conference, and hopefully that’s the kind of offense we’re going to play.”

Bird, recovering from arthroscopic surgery on her left knee on July 6, was the top vote-getter for the game. She was replaced as a starter by Thompson, selected to the team as a reserve. Leslie is sitting out this season because of pregnancy – she gave birth to a daughter last month – and Swoopes has been sidelined with a back injury since May 29.

Before the game Seimone Augustus will defend her Dribble, Dish and Swish title against challenges from Hammon, Seattle’s Betty Lennox and Washington’s Nikki Teasley.

The competition involves completing eight skill tasks – a layup at one end of the court, dribbling between three standing WNBA logo silhouettes down one side, making a chest-high pass into a net, then a bounce pass, hitting a jumper from behind the free-throw circle, another chest pass, and dribbling back through another set of silhouettes and another layup.

Taurasi, Douglas, Taylor, Nolan, Washington’s Laurie Koehn and Los Angeles’ Sidney Spencer will compete in a 3-point shootout.

Brunson out, Young in

Although she was named to the WNBA All-Star team for the first time, Sacramento forward Rebekkah Brunson will be sidelined with sore muscles in her lower left leg.

Doctors did not clear Brunson to participate in today’s 12:30 p.m. PDT game at Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.

She said she is unsure how the injury, which has bothered her for the last month, will affect her status for the Monarchs.

“As time progressed it got a little more sore” Brunson said Saturday. “We will take it day by day. I will definitely be limited.”

San Antonio forward Sophia Young will replace Brunson on the Western Conference roster, WNBA president Donna Orender announced.

It is Young’s second All-Star appearance.

Brunson will sit on the bench in regular clothes during the game.