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Sun-Stars Preview

Sep 3, 2015 - 4:31 PM The league-worst San Antonio Stars are mired in a seven-game slide with the season winding down, though they have some extra incentive this weekend.

The retiring Sophia Young-Malcolm will play her final home games in a back-to-back set that begins Friday night against the short-handed Connecticut Sun, who are also eliminated from playoff contention.

This is the first home game for Young-Malcolm since she announced last Wednesday that this will be her final campaign. She spent her entire 10-year career with the Stars, and will play her last home game Saturday against Phoenix.

The four-time all-WNBA selection is the franchise's leader in scoring with 4,266 points and one of 24 in league history with over 4,000 points. She helped lead San Antonio (7-23) to its lone WNBA finals appearance in 2008.

Young-Malcolm will be looking to fare better this weekend than in her previous three home games in which she totaled 14 points on 6-of-22 shooting - all losses for the Stars. Her field-goal percentage of 47.9 leads the club.

San Antonio will seek to stop its longest losing streak since dropping a franchise record-tying nine straight from Aug. 2-26, 2005.

The Stars haven't played since Sunday's 60-52 defeat at Los Angeles in which Jia Perkins scored 15 points and Young-Malcolm added 11.

They'll be eager to avenge an 82-51 loss at Connecticut (13-18) on Aug. 4 for its most lopsided defeat in the 25-game history of the series with the Sun. Kelsey Bone had 17 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for Connecticut, which held a 41-25 rebounding edge.

Bone is tied for the team lead with Alex Bentley with a 14.7 scoring average. Bentley, who scored 10 points in the first meeting, has missed the last six games with an ankle injury and fellow starter Alyssa Thomas has missed the last nine with a shoulder injury.

The Sun fell to 1-8 in this stretch without Thomas with Tuesday's 81-51 loss at Indiana. Bone scored 17 points.