The visiting San Antonio Silver Stars suddenly are running a bit short of guards.

With All-Star Becky Hammon not joining the team for a few more days because of her obligations playing for Russia in the EuroBasket Championships and Vickie Johnson missed her second straight game because of the death of her brother, San Antonio knew it would be short-handed like it was in Friday's loss at New York. Now word is that Shanna Crossley will miss the game with an injured knee.

The Silver Stars have six guards on its roster and three will be out of action. Helen Darling and Edwige Lawson-Wade will start in the backcourt with Belinda Snell the only reserve guard available.

"As a team, you are used to that at some point during the season being down (players) because of injuries or circumstances with a death in the family but as a team you just pick each other up," said Ruth Riley, San Antonio's starting center. "I think that is our strength, our chemistry and our ability to play together so we our going to our best.

"We are excited we have another game coming up (after a loss to New York), obviously we had a lot of mistakes so hopefully we can go out today and execute our game plan."

I will have more from Riley on the subject of UConn and Notre Dame playing twice in the upcoming season either later today or tomorrow.