NEW YORK, July 7 – WNBA President Val Ackerman announced today that Connecticut guard/forward Nykesha Sales and Los Angeles guard Nikki Teasley will represent the Eastern and Western Conferences respectively as reserves in the 2003 WNBA All-Star Game.

Sales replaces New York’s Becky Hammon, who suffered a season-ending ACL tear on June 27, and Teasley replaces Houston’s Cynthia Cooper, who had surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff tendon on June 13.

Los Angeles Sparks Head Coach Michael Cooper, coach of the Western Conference All-Stars, will announce Cynthia Cooper’s replacement in the starting lineup prior to the game.

Sales is averaging a career-high 16.4 points per game (seventh best in the WNBA) while grabbing 4.6 rebounds and handing out 2.8 assists for the Sun. She has also connected on 35.5 percent of her three-point field goal attempts.

Teasley has helped lead the Sparks to the top of the Western Conference with a league-leading 13-3 record. She is averaging 9.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.0 assists (fourth in the WNBA) per game while hitting 44.3 percent of her three-pointers.

Connecticut's Nykesha Sales
Ray Amati
WNBAE/Getty Images 		Los Angeles's Nikki Teasley
Gregory Shamus
WNBAE/Getty Images