Byears Says Foul Play Won’t Make Her Change

Latasha Byears’ productivity has dipped some in the playoffs (5.5 points) in part because Coach Michael Cooper is going with his starters longer, but also because of foul trouble.

Other Spark players may have a higher playoff foul total than Byears, who had 14 entering the game. But, while battling the forwards and centers of Houston and Sacramento, Byears tended to get her fouls in clusters.

“I can’t change the way I play,” Byears said.

“And I can’t worry about the referees or it will become a distraction. I’ll just have to adjust to how they make calls.”

Byears had only two fouls Thursday, to go with eight points in 18 minutes.

Lisa Leslie was named to the All-WNBA first team Thursday. She was joined by Utah’s Natalie Williams, Minnesota’s Katie Smith, Houston’s Janeth Arcain and Cleveland’s Merlakia Jones.

The Sparks’ Tamecka Dixon was chosen on the second team.

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This will be the longest playoff season in WNBA history. Last year’s playoff round took 16 games before Houston won its fourth championship.

Thursday was the 17th playoff game this season, with at least one more to go.

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After the Sting lost to Los Angeles at Staples Center on June 19, and the team left the locker room for the bus, one of the players shouted “To be continued.”

Those three words went on to become the team mantra as the Sting recovered from a 1-10 start and reached the playoffs.

“We said it after games whether we won or lost,” Allison Feaster said.

“So many people had written us off, but we felt the final story hadn’t been written.”