With a chance to win the WNBA championship Sunday at home in front of a supportive crowd at Staples Center, Los Angeles lost 85-79. Now the Sparks have to go on the road for a winner-take-all Game 5 at Minnesota.Thats a pretty tough spot -- but the Sparks are a pretty positive-minded group, and one of their veterans has her own personal mantra to help. Alana Beard is in her 13th year as a pro, and shes been through some trials, for sure.Yet Beard has been a constant source of good vibes and uplifting support for her Sparks teammates. A win Thursday (ESPN2, 8 p.m. ET) would be the first WNBA title for all the current Sparks players. Even if they dont win, Beard will find solace in having given it her all, and in her belief in advice she got in 2001 but didnt fully grasp until a decade later.Beard had finished an outstanding freshman year at Duke and was playing for USA Basketball in the junior world championship in July 2001 in the Czech Republic. Oklahomas Sherri Coale was an assistant coach to UConns Geno Auriemma for that U.S. team.Duke and Oklahoma had been the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in the same NCAA regional that March, but both were upset in the semifinals and didnt meet. Beard and Coale were still processing how their seasons had ended. And Coale recognized in Beard something of a kindred spirit.I remember relating so much to Alana because her desire to do well and to be good and make everybody proud was so intense, Coale said. I told her, Youve never heard of this group called .38 Special, but they have this great song called Hold On Loosely. Its a good thing to keep in mind.Beard, then 19, indeed was not familiar with the band nor the song; it was released in 1981 and she was born in 1982. Still, Coales message stuck as a seed, but one that would take awhile to germinate.She said, Do you understand what that means? Beard said. I was like, Yeah, sure. Hold on loosely. I get it. But I really didnt understand what it meant until I was 29 years old.At Duke from 2000-2004, Beard went to the Final Four twice, but didnt get a championship. In her first six WNBA seasons with the Washington Mystics, she was often the leading scorer, but at times struggled to truly lead. Then she was out for two WNBA consecutive seasons with serious ankle and foot issues.Her second missed season was 2011, when she turned 29. That was the year Beard said she had an epiphany. Coales advice from so long again found its way to the surface.I was going through my injury, and I realized basketball alone didnt define me, Beard said. When you go through tough times, you start to understand more about yourself. Basketball was my everything. There were times I was so focused on basketball, I didnt have time for relationships, or my family. And I never wanted to get to that point again.Its weird how it came back to me. It hit me like an aha moment. In my mind, hold on loosely means sometimes you can want something so badly that it slips right out of your grasp. Thats where Ive been at the college level, and at points in my WNBA career. Ive wanted it so badly that it slips away. Now, I know how to hold on loosely.Beard moved on from Washington as a free agent to Los Angeles in 2012, a team that has had its ups but also some downs, including a mid-season coaching change in 2014, and another coach in 2015. Beard, now 34, missed the first part of last season with plantar fasciitis.Earlier this season after a loss, Beard said Los Angeles coach Brian Agler wanted to remind the Sparks about who they were and what they were trying to accomplish.Coach posed the question, If you were an outsider looking in, what would you say about this team? Beard said. We were going through a rough patch. And I said, This team needs to understand what holding on loosely means. And when I explained it, they all understood it.Did they know the song? No. Beard didnt even recall that part. But the message is what mattered. The lyrics are about relationships between people, but its not a stretch to extend it to how you feel about anything that you really love.When Coale was asked about it recently, her first thought was on her profession in general.As coaches, we must be so aware of what we say, how we say it and when we say it, Coale said. Because it is impactful, for good or ill. These young players in our care are so malleable.We hope thats the cornerstone of everything we do as high school and college coaches -- that were giving people tools with which to successfully navigate not just basketball, but their lives.It also was particularly meaningful to her that Beard recalled this advice and benefited from it. That 2001 junior world championship team didnt win the gold; the Americans were upset by the host Czech Republic in the semifinals and then took bronze. However, it was a group of several future WNBA standouts, including Beard, Diana Taurasi, Cappie Pondexter, Monique Currie, Nicole Powell and Shameka Christon.I actually have a picture of that team in a frame on my shelf in my living room, Coale said. Of all the teams -- and I wasnt even the head coach! Its not like I have pictures of all the teams Ive coached; I dont have enough walls. But I have a picture of that team.It was a really neat connection with that group of kids. And my daughter, who was little then, just loved Alana Beard. So did my son.In fact, Colton Coale, who now works with his mom at Oklahoma, texted her after Beards game-winning basket in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals.He was like, Mom, did you see Alanas shot? Coale said. If you get a chance, tell Alana that Sherri and Colton Coale are watching, and we are really proud of her.Even after an emotionally difficult loss like Game 4, Beard still spoke positively about the Sparks having another chance. About staying in the moment.Hold on loosely ... but dont let go. Tienda De Air Max Baratas . -- The Missouri Tigers might not have a roster full of superstars. Nike Air Max 90 Baratas España . The Montreal Canadiens announced on Friday that the veteran forward will return to the teams line-up on Saturday night when the Habs visit the Nashville Predators. http://www.tiendasairmaxbaratas.com/zapatillas-air-max-270.html . Now that hes hitting streaking teammates with pin-point passes for easy layups, Love is asserting himself as one of the true superstars in the league. Nike Air Max 720 Mujer Baratas . "Were just throwing s--- at the wall hoping something sticks," said Tortorella about the possible line combinations for Fridays game against Columbus. The Canucks have lost five straight games and six of their last seven, leaving them in a logjam in the Pacific Division, currently sitting fifth - good for ninth in the Western Conference. Air Max 97 Baratas Mujer . Tracey comes to the Blue Bombers after spending over a decade with Queens University. Most recently he was the schools assistant football coach. CHASKA, Minn. -- Welshman Jamie Donaldson had quite the debut in the Ryder Cup two years ago, though his rookie success wasnt enough to get him invited back.Not to worry, though, because the Europeans have reloaded. They will send six rookies -- exactly half the team -- to the first tee over the next three days in their effort to win for the fourth time in a row.Among them is Englands Andy Sullivan, who finds himself paired with Rory McIlroy in the second match of the day, in foursomes against Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler.Its rarified territory for Sullivan, who knows the magnitude of the job ahead.Sometimes I go to bed at night and just need to pinch myself that Im here, Sullivan said this week.Donaldson helped lead the European team to victory two years ago, when he went 3-1 and sealed both his own match and win on the final day with an iron shot to within a foot of the hole at Gleneagles. But he was defying the odds -- only nine of the 39 rookies who played singles for Europe since 1995 have won their last match.While the Europeans feature six newbies this year, the U.S. team has only two. Ryan Moore and Brooks Koepka will make their debuts, though neither was picked to play in the opening foursomes. The eight rookies combined matches the average that have started in Ryder Cups since 1979, when players from continental Europe joined a squad made up previously from Great Britain and Ireland.Just remember, its not always big names that come up the biggest. Almost every great player on either side of the Atlantic since 1927 has played in this event, from Ted Ray to Nick Faldo on the European side, and Walter Hagen to Tiger Woods on this side.Here are the five best debuts ranked by point production:U.S.: Larry Nelson, 1979In a sense, Nelson was a rookie for much of his career. He didnt even take up golf until age 21, after he returned from serving in the infantry in Vietnam. Obviously, Nelson didnt scare easily and at The Grreenbrier, he barely put a foot down wrong.ddddddddddddHe played all five matches and won all five, beating none other than Seve Ballesteros -- another rookie who would go on to become one of Europes best ever -- in four of those as the United States won handily 17-11.U.S.: Gardner Dickinson, 1967Dickinson won an NCAA title at Louisiana State and seven times on the PGA Tour, but never finished better than sixth in a major championship. Like Nelson, though, his Ryder Cup debut at Champions Golf Club was perfect -- 5 for 5 (the same record Arnold Palmer posted that year) as the U.S. team rolled to one of the biggest winning margins in the history of the event.Europe: Paul Way, 1983The Englishman was barely a household name in his own household and only turned pro a year before arriving at PGA National. Playing the first day with Ballesteros, they lost the morning foursomes to Tom Kite and Calvin Peete, then beat Curtis Strange and Ray Floyd in four-ball that afternoon. European captain Tony Jacklin gambled by keeping them together for a second day and was rewarded with another win and a half-point. Europe lost 14 1/2-13 1/2, but Ways haul -- 3 1/2 out of possible five points -- set a European standard for rookies equaled only once since then.Europe: Paul Lawrie and Sergio Garcia, 1999Lawrie had won the British Open two months earlier in his native Scotland. Spaniard Garcia had famously tangled with Tiger Woods in the PGA only a month earlier when they led off at Brookline Country Club. Both helped put Europe in command early, capturing the first two points and accounting for 3 1/2 of the teams opening-day total of six points. Both finished strong as well, with 3-1-1 records that matched Ways 3 1/2-point debut. But it wasnt enough when the U.S. stormed back in singles the final day to recapture the Cup. ' ' '