Candace Parker says daughter 'all right'

After missing Thursday night's 98-90 loss to the Phoenix Mercury for what was termed "personal reasons," Los Angeles Sparks forward Candace Parker said Saturday she will play in today's home game against the Connecticut Sun.

"I needed to be at home," the former University of Tennessee star told The Los Angeles Times after Saturday's practice. "I appreciate the Sparks' organization for understanding and for being there."

Parker said the situation arose unexpectedly and she alerted general manager Penny Toler and Coach Michael Cooper "well before the game," she said.

She posted on her Twitter account Wednesday night that Lailaa, her 3-month-old daughter, was sick, but Parker declined to say whether that was why she had to miss the game.

"I don't want to go into it, but it was personal," she said. "Everything is good now, everything's taken care of and I'm back."

As far as Lailaa's health, Parker said, "She's doing good. She's all right."

The Sparks (14-14) are already without starting point guard Kristi Harrower, who has been in Australia since Wednesday after her grandmother passed away. Harrower won't play today and is expected to miss Tuesday's home matchup with the Atlanta Dream (15-13).

Cooper said if Quinn was unable to play, then Betty Lennox and former UT standout Shannon Bobbitt would share the majority of backcourt duties. He also kept open the possibility that Parker would take the point guard position.

Catchings For MVP? The Indiana Fever have a conundrum.

Is Katie Douglas their MVP candidate, or is it former UT star Tamika Catchings? When the WNBA's best team embarks on a public-relations blitz in a few weeks to promote its players for postseason awards, do they bang the drum loudly for Douglas, their best scorer, or Catchings, their best all-around player?

"Maybe we'll have the first-ever co-MVPs,'' Fever chief operating officer/general manager Kelly Krauskopf told The Indianapolis Star. "I mean, why not? Our success this season has so much to do with both of them. They've both done so much for the team, it's hard to say.

"It's something I've been thinking about. Honestly, how should we approach this? I know people say that if we promote both, they'll take votes away from each other, but you can make such a strong case for both of them.''

Silver Stars 100, Shock 88:Becky Hammon scored 12 of her 32 points in overtime and San Antonio beat Detroit on Saturday.

San Antonio forced overtime when Sophia Young hit a 14-footer with 2 seconds left to tie the game at 79. Deanna Nolan had a shot to win at the end of regulation, but her jumper bounced off the rim.

Hammon became just the second player in the league to score 4,000 points and dish out 1,000 assists in her career, joining teammate Vicki Johnson.