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MINNEAPOLIS -- Alana Beard the businesswoman will be opening a Mellow Mushroom pizza restaurant in Roanoke, Virginia, on Oct. 22 with her good friend, Indiana guard Marissa Coleman.But Beard the basketball player is still hard at work at her hoops job too. On Sunday in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals at the Target Center, she made the kind of defensive plays we expect from her, with those Inspector Gadget-like long arms and the quick hands that have flummoxed so many foes.But she made something else that wasnt so expected: a jump shot at the buzzer, which gave Los Angeles a 78-76 victory over Minnesota.Obviously, you want the ball in certain peoples hands, Beard said of the game-ending possession, though she wasnt referring to herself. Then it came to my side, and you gotta take the shot. Theres no time for a pass in that situation.The reality is, the Lynx actually preferred Beard take the shot, if anyone did. Shes not the scorer she once was, and thats not her primary role with the Sparks.Los Angeles needs her defensively and as an emotional leader for the team.She brings so much, said Sparks forward Nneka Ogumike, who was the WNBAs MVP this season. Shes a big part of the glue to this team, on and off the court. For her to have a moment like that is special for her career. Its something shell remember, and well remember.But it also goes to show that she is always in the moment. Thats just how she always is, and she capitalized on it.Beard, 34, is the second-oldest player for the Sparks. She was part of what proved to be a talented WNBA draft class of 2004. Three other players from that draft are playing in this series, all with Minnesota: Lindsay Whalen, Rebekkah Brunson and Jia Perkins. Phoenixs Diana Taurasi was the No. 1 pick that season, followed by Beard at No. 2 by Washington.Beard played her first six seasons with the Mystics, and she was a pretty big scorer then, averaging 16.2 points for her Washington career. But severe ankle problems sidelined Beard for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Even then, the Duke grad was planning her eventual business career, and she knew she could survive without basketball.She just wasnt ready to do that at that point.Its the love that I have for the game, Beard said about what pushed her to recover and keep playing. But I think one huge motivation was when a doctor told me that I would never play again. And another was the Mystics believing I would never play again.I kept going. It was hard at times; Im not going to lie. But you just never know where life will take you, and Ive developed a mindset of staying open to anything.When Beard went cross-country to join the Sparks in 2012, she understood her role would change in regard to offense. But she has remained a fierce and feared defender, along with being a mentor for younger players.Nobody wants to be guarded by her, teammate Kristi Toliver said. Luckily, shes always on my team in practice.Beard dealt with plantar fasciitis last year and was limited to 14 games in the regular season. But this year, she has started every game and been an invaluable resource to second-year guard Chelsea Gray, who also went to Duke.Beard and Gray, who turned 24 on Saturday, played a decade apart for the Blue Devils and for different coaches. But Beard reached out while Gray was still in college, including giving her encouragement when Gray went through knee injuries that hampered her Duke career.She emailed me and we texted a few times then, said Gray, who was drafted by Connecticut in 2015 but came to Los Angeles in an April trade. And from the first day I was here, she was in my ear and was happy I was with the Sparks.Gray has become a more important part of the Los Angeles offense, especially in the past month. She played 30 minutes on Sunday off the bench, scoring 12 points. But it was the last of her four assists that will stand out.The Sparks and Lynx had been battling all game, just as expected. In the fourth quarter, Los Angeles made some very big defensive stops, including two consecutive forced turnovers by Beard on a blocked shot and a steal in the last 2 minutes, 20 seconds of the game.After a layup by Minnesotas Maya Moore with 24.7 seconds left tied the score at 76, the Sparks put the ball in Grays hands to orchestrate the final shot. The top option was Toliver, who finished tied with Ogwumike with a game-high 19 points. The Lynx defense had that covered, though, and Gray was left with one choice: passing to Beard on the right side, in front of the Sparks bench, and just inside the arc.Moore left Beard alone to help on defense, which was understandable when you consider the Sparks other scoring threats. Moore adjusted and tried to contest Beards shot. But Beard swished it, and she fell down after she followed through, soon to be covered with overjoyed teammates.Womens basketball fans might go back in their memory vaults to a somewhat similar shot that Beards Duke teammate Jessica Foley hit to beat UConn in Hartford, Connecticut, during Beards senior season in 2004. That one was a 3-pointer, but a lot else about Sundays shot was the same, including Foley falling down as the ball went through the net.I was probably the first one to get to her, Beard said of that celebration. In this case, Chelsea was the first one to get to me.Beard has been a pro basketball player for 13 years, counting her injured period, but this is her first time appearing in the WNBA Finals. She knows that the Sparks still have a lot of work to do to try to win the title, but shes grateful to at least have the chance.Im happy to be healthy now, Beard said. This is the best Ive felt in maybe five or six years, and you can see it with the way I move. That last shot, that play, is a great example of who weve been all season, just the resilience. These are the moments you kind of live for.Clearance Nike Shoes Australia .J. -- Josh Cribbs was in the Pro Bowl in February and out of a job six months later. Air Max 720 Australia . After a replay, the winner will meet Sunderland in the quarterfinals. Sagbo did well to control Sone Alukos right cross and fire past Brighton goalkeeper Peter Brezovan. Aluko was making his first start in four months after recovering from an Achilles injury. http://www.airmax720saleaustralia.com/ .J. Ellis hit two-run homers and the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres 4-0 Saturday night. Cheap Air Max Australia . The 29-year-old from Port Colborne, Ont., has nothing but good things to say about former U.S. marine Liz (Girlrilla) Carmouche ahead of their co-main event Wednesday on the UFCs "Fight for the Troops" televised card in Fort Campbell, Ky. Air Max 720 Australia Sale .com) - Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Roger Federer were easy first-round winners Tuesday at the Australian Open.MUNICH -- Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has rekindled a debate about the role of smaller soccer nations in qualifying after Germany thumped Gibraltar 8-0.Now we are playing San Marino, Kosovo, Gibraltar. I am asking myself why there are no qualifications for such small nations, Rummenigge said in an interview with Sport-Bild newspaper, due to be published Wednesday.Rummenigge suggested such countries should go through pre-qualifying before they joined the main qualifying groups for tournaments such as the World Cup and European Championship.Rummenigge also complained about the one country-one vote system in FIFA and UEFA, saying that votes of smaller nations carried the same weight as that of football power Germany.The two topics come up fairly regularly in German media.Germany, the World Cup champion, thrashed San Marino in World Cup qualifying on Friday.Afterward, Bayern forward Thomas Mueller said that the San Marino part-timers had tried their best, but that the match had llittle in common with professional football.ddddddddddddIn response, San Marino Olympic Committee spokesman Alan Gasperoni put out an open letter listing 10 reasons for such games to be played.One of them was that it gave an opportunity to San Marino kids to watch the World Cup champion in action and that football belongs to everyone who loves the game.The letter concluded that, even though Germany may wear beautiful shirts, you will always be the ones who wear white socks with their sandals -- poking fun at a fashion item sometimes worn by German tourists.Philipp Lahm, the Bayern captain, disagreed with his own chairman, saying small clubs and small nations looked forward to such games.I think for them it was the biggest game of the year, maybe even in several years, Lahm said of San Marino. They were looking forward to it and thats what football is all about, joy. ' ' '