dwards qualified third in a Ford and was followed by Toyota drivers Brian Vickers and Matt Kenseth as Toyota took thr

The Wings face the Stars in San Antonio on Friday, which theoretically could be -- someday -- a very compelling matchup. But it wont be this week, as these are the bottom two teams in the WNBA standings.San Antonio (6-23) is already eliminated from the postseason. Dallas (9-21) is on the cusp of elimination and has lost 11 consecutive games; the Wings last victory came July 5.But if these two teams, which are 4?-hours drive apart, were ever to be competitive at the same time, that could be a lot of fun, right?Admittedly, that scenario seems distant now. But consider this: If someone had told you in 2009 that Minnesota was just two years away from being a franchise that would go on a stretch of winning three of five WNBA titles (and counting), would you have believed it?The Lynx hit the mega-jackpot with Maya Moore as the No. 1 draft pick in 2011. But Minnesota also had hired coach Cheryl Reeve in 2010 and has continued to make astute personnel decisions to be able to become a consistent powerhouse.So there is always hope that if enough of the right decisions are made, and a little luck occurs, a franchise can turn itself around. In the case of the Wings and Stars -- who face some of the same challenges, but also very different ones -- mutual success could help the development of another WNBA rivalry. And every league needs rivalries.New York and Connecticut are the WNBA franchises located closest to each other, but Dallas and San Antonio are the only league teams to share the same state.Albeit a humongous state. Texas was home to the first dominant WNBA franchise; the Houston Comets won four titles, and one of their top players, Sheryl Swoopes, is being inducted into the Naisimith Hall of Fame this weekend.But with the country in the midst of an economic crisis in 2008, the Comets were among the casualties. A year later, so were the Detroit Shock. They became the Tulsa Shock in 2010, and now are the Wings in their first season in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, playing their games in Arlington.Dallas coach Fred Williams, who has decades of experience in womens basketball, has been happy with how the community has responded in the Wing first season in Texas.Everyone here from a fan standpoint has been very supportive; theyve embraced us well, Williams said. It just takes a little while for that to set in and spread.Williams took over coaching in Tulsa in 2014, and last season, the franchise made its first playoff appearance since leaving Detroit. Hopes were relatively high the Wings could follow up with another postseason trip in their first year in Texas. But Dallas hit a rough patch early in the season, losing six in a row, and then again in July. That skid is on-going.For us, when it gets down to that one key basket or free throw or rebound, we havent gotten it, Williams said. Its been different scenarios in games. We have a young team and weve just got to continue to work hard.Good fortune has not been on the Wings side, and it wasnt when the team was in Tulsa, either. Going back to that 2011 draft, when Minnesota got Moore at No. 1 and Tulsa took Liz Cambage at No. 2, a bit of a Murphys law cloud has hung over the franchise.Last year, the team lost guard Skylar Diggins after nine games to an ACL injury. This year, she has averaged 12.9 points in 23 games. She had one of her better games of the season Sept. 4 against Washington with 25 points and four assists.Right now, Id say shes about 95 percent physically, Williams said of Diggins. But mentally shes 100 percent -- shes a competitor whos going to play hard and wants this team to get better.Now, though, the Wings have lost forward Glory Johnson for the rest of the season to a knee injury. Johnson, who missed last season while she was pregnant, averaged 11.3 points and a team-high 8.9 rebounds in 18 games this year.Odyssey Sims (14.7 PPG) leads the Wings in scoring. Plenette Pierson (12.3), Karima Christmas (12.2) and rookie Aerial Powers (10.2) are also averaging in double figures. Dallas 83.3 PPG average is good for fifth-best in the league.But defense is the big problem: The Wings allow the most points of any WNBA team -- 88.2 -- and losing Johnson might make that even worse.So the Wings know what areas they will need to improve for next year on the court. There does seem to be positive momentum, though, in regard to off the court. Mary OConnor was hired as Wings president in July, and she sounds optimistic about continuing to raise brand awareness of the team.I believe there is a playing season and a planning season, said OConnor, who has worked in sports marketing in the Dallas area for many years. In the planning season, we will be working a lot in the community figuring out where we can have the greatest impact.And then how does that align with what our players passions are, so we can help them build their identity in the community. We want a team of players who feel at home in DFW and who can make a difference here.The Wings play at 7,000-seat College Park Center on the campus of UT Arlington. Its a good size building for a WNBA team, and OConnor believes its a realistic goal for the Wings to regularly sell out games.San Antonio, by contrast, plays in the cavernous AT&T Center, and the Stars have had plenty of time to become known in the community. Theyve been in San Antonio since relocating there in 2003 from Utah. However, other than Becky Hammon -- now an assistant coach with the NBAs Spurs -- the Stars really havent had a star.San Antonios best showing was in 2008, when the Stars advanced to the WNBA Finals in a very exciting series with Los Angeles.But San Antonio hasnt won a playoff series since then, getting swept by Detroit in the WNBA Finals, and then losing in the conference semifinals in 2009, 10, 11, 12 and 14. This is the second year in a row the Stars have missed the postseason.They got the No. 2 selection in the 2016 draft, and took UConn guard Moriah Jefferson, who is averaging 12.6 points and 4.0 assists as a rookie. San Antonios biggest struggle is scoring: The Stars are, by a wide margin, the most anemic offense in the league, averaging just 72 PPG. (The next-lowest average is Indianas 79.9.)Injuries are one reason for the Stars offensive woes. Guard Danielle Robinson had to sit out this season with an Achilles injury. Then the Stars lost their leading scorer, guard Kayla McBride, to a fractured right foot in July. She was averaging 17.1 PPG through 17 games.So the Stars have to heal and make some personnel moves for 2017, along with hoping the lottery goes their way and they get the No. 1 pick in the draft. Former WNBA player Ruth Riley, now in her first season as San Antonios general manager, is primarily responsible for changing the Stars fortunes. Shell have to bring in a new coach, as Dan Hughes will step down at seasons end.Riley knows what she has in terms of promising young players, but shes also aware that the Stars just dont have enough talent right now.Moriah has shown herself to be an incredible leader and has made the transition from the college game to the pro game at a really high level, Riley said. Putting more pieces together and getting healthy is going to be key.Thankfully, were going to have the ability to get some players because we have cap space, and we will have a high draft pick. Black Friday Shoes China . Dusautoir, the former World Player of the Year, sustained a torn bicep playing for Toulouse in the Heineken Cup on Saturday. The flanker, who has played 65 times for France, is expected to be out for up to four months. Black Friday Shoes Deals .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. https://www.shoesblackfriday.com/ .ca! Hi Kerry, Its another day and here we are looking at another dubious hit to the head. In this case Blue Jackets forward Brandon Dubinsky elbowed Saku Koivu in the head about a second after he dished off the puck to a teammate, knocking him unconscious. Black Friday Shoes Sale .Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres have recalled forward Kevin Porter and defenceman Chad Ruhwedel from the minors as part of a five-player roster shuffle made by the NHLs worst team. Wholesale Black Friday Shoes .Y. -- Jayna Hefford scored the winning goal Friday as Canada survived a scare with a 4-3 win over Sweden at the Four Nations womens hockey tournament. BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Denny Hamlin, searching for anything to save his season, got a slight boost Friday with a pole-winning run at Bristol Motor Speedway. Hamlin turned a lap 128.969 mph around the 0.533-mile bullring to put his Toyota in the top starting spot for Saturday nights race. Although its his fourth pole of the season, its his first career pole at Bristol, where Hamlin is the defending race winner. But he heads into the race in search of anything positive: Hes 25th in points -- largely because he missed four races with a fractured vertebra suffered in a crash at California -- and entered Bristol stuck in a miserable nine-race slump in which he hasnt logged a finish higher than 18th. Although he wants to win a race, hell take any sort of minor victory. "Its by far the worst run, these nine races, in my career," he said. "A lot of it is our own doing. We got off track for a couple races because weve blown right front tires in consecutive weeks and we started changing our setups and we couldnt find anything that was very good with that. That burnt another three, four weeks. Weve had horsepower cut back. But were headed in the right direction. "At any moment, we can go from a 25th-place car to winning a pole and winning the race. Theres not a whole lot of teams that can say they can win at any moment, but I feel like we can." Hamlins lap was good enough to hold off five-time Bristol winner Kurt Busch, who qualified second with a lap of 128.770. Its the seventh front-row starting spot of the season for Busch, who is suddenly a hot commodity on the free-agent market with an offer to join Stewart-Haas Racing next season. Furniture Row Racing has made its offer to keep Busch, and the driver fired from Penske Racing at the end of 2011 now finds himself not only wading through multiple pprospects but vying for a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.dddddddddddd Although hes winless on the year, consistency has him ranked ninth in points with three races remaining to set the Chase field. "The guys (at Furniture Row) know that this is the time now, and they are all shaking my hand saying Thanks and they are also saying Lets do this again next year," Busch said. "Im like, Heck, yeah. Im right there with you. We have to stay focused on the present as well as balance the future, and its a tough thing to do. You hope you can do it behind the scenes and its not out in the public. But today was a great reminder of how hard you have to work in this sport." Carl Edwards qualified third in a Ford and was followed by Toyota drivers Brian Vickers and Matt Kenseth as Toyota took three of the top five spots. For Vickers it was a big run in his first race as full-time driver of the No. 55 at Michael Waltrip Racing. Hired two weeks ago to take over that car next year, he got a jump on the job early when Stewart-Haas Racing asked to use Mark Martin for the rest of the year as Tony Stewarts injury replacement. MWR signed off because it gave them the chance to give Vickers a head start on next year with crew chief Rodney Childers -- only Childers informed his team Friday morning hes not coming back next year. Although he hasnt finalized a deal, hes apparently also going to SHR to crew chief Kevin Harvick next year. Vickers handled the news well. "No good team is built with one person," he said. "The good news is that weve got the opportunity to go find some great people for this team and were on the hunt now and theres some really good people out there. Were going to hopefully find the right one and still go race for a championship next year." ' ' '