NEW YORK (AP) — The surging New York Liberty will face Indiana on Tuesday night in a marquee WNBA matchup that will see the Fever at full strength after the league rescinded a technical foul against Caitlin Clark that would have kept her out.
Clark picked up her eighth technical of the season on Saturday, the number that triggers a one-game suspension, but league officials quickly rescinded it.
New York has won four straight games and seven of its last eight thanks to strong play from its top three players Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu. The trio has been taking turns leading the Liberty during the recent hot streak that's bumped them up to seventh place in the standings — but just two games behind third-place Las Vegas.
The Liberty are coming off a 40-point win over the defending champion Aces on Sunday. The Aces rested stars A'ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young as it was the second half of a brutal back-to-back for Las Vegas.
“It doesn’t matter who’s playing on the other side, we understand we needed to win,” Ionescu said. “It doesn’t matter, we wanted to go out. We wanted to execute, we wanted to play our brand of basketball, knowing every game is important and this game isn’t going to have an asterisk by it because those players didn’t play. It’s going to show up as a win or a loss.”
New York lost by 20 to Indiana just before its current hot streak, so the Liberty would love to get some revenge.
Minnesota held onto the top spot in the power poll this week, although the Lynx weren't unanimous. No. 2 Golden State received two votes and third-ranked Washington got one. Las Vegas, Indiana and New York were next. Atlanta, Dallas and Chicago followed the Liberty. Portland was 10th and Los Angeles 11th. Phoenix, Connecticut, Toronto and Seattle rounded out the poll.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert sent a memo to all the teams that there will be a meeting this week to continue discussions around transgender athletes in women’s basketball. The memo, sent Friday afternoon, said the topic will be discussed further by a task force of team presidents and general managers at a previously scheduled meeting next week.
Kayla McBride had a record-setting game Sunday, scoring a career-high 43 points and hitting a league-best 10 3-pointers in a win over Dallas. McBride made 10 of 14 shots from behind the arc.
“Minneapolis has become home for me and I want to give my best,” she said. “Whether the ball goes in or doesn’t, I just feel so much love. I think that’s why I can come out here and do my thing. I feel so loved and appreciated for who I am and I just love the game. I want to win. So I’m grateful for these fans, this organization. I’m just overcome with joy, and when I have opportunities like that I want to give it back.”
Shakira Austin of Washington was the AP player of the week for the second consecutive week. The forward averaged 22.3 points, 11.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks to help the Mystics win all three of their games last week. Other players receiving votes included Breanna Stewart of New York, Bridget Carleton of Portland, Kelsey Mitchell of Indiana and Kayla McBride of Minnesota.
Washington at Las Vegas, Tuesday and Thursday. The Mystics will try to extend a seven-game winning streak when they visit the Aces for a pair of games. A win Tuesday would tie the franchise record of eight consecutive victories by Washington, matching the 2018 team.
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Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young (0) drives between New York Liberty center Jonquel Jones, left, and guard Sabrina Ionescu (20) during the first half of an WNBA basketball game Thursday, July 30, 2026, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Indiana Fever's Caitlin Clark reacts after being called for a foul during the second half of an WNBA basketball game against the Chicago Sky in Chicago, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
Ben Jones, who played the good ol' boy mechanic in “The Dukes of Hazzard” TV series and parlayed his fame into a political career and two terms in the U.S. House, has died. He was 84.
Jones had a heart attack in his home Sunday in Washington, Virginia, as he was waiting to watch his beloved Atlanta Braves play baseball, his wife, Alma Viator, said on social media. Rappahannock County Sheriff Connie Compton confirmed his death.
Jones' fame came from his role as Cooter Davenport, the mechanic who got the Duke boys out of jams as they tried to do the right thing and fight the corrupt Boss Hogg in the fictional Hazzard County, Georgia.
After playing Cooter for all seven seasons of the series from 1979 to 1985, Jones turned to politics and was elected to the U.S. House from a district near Atlanta in 1988. The Democrat served two terms before he was redistricted out of the seat.
Jones was born in North Carolina and in college got involved in acting and civil rights, he wrote in his autobiography "Redneck Boy in the Promised Land: The Confessions of ‘Crazy Cooter.’"
Acting took over his life. Jones performed in numerous stage productions and had a few minor TV and movie roles in Atlanta during the 1970s before his life-defining break came on a TV show Jones defended as a modern-day morality tale and a fine example of Southern values.
For seven seasons, Jones was one of a small band of friends and family helping Bo and Luke Duke in “The Dukes of Hazzard.” The brothers were on probation for running moonshine and were constantly trying to clear their names and stop the crooked and powerful Boss Hogg from stealing or cheating.
The Duke boys drove a modified 1969 Dodge Charger called the General Lee with a Confederate flag on its roof. Cooter owned “Cooter's Garage” in the town square. Nearly every episode involved a car chase with jumps and stunts and a patrol car badly in need of repairs.
Cooter was often on the CB radio in his pickup truck saying “Breaker one, Breaker one. I might be crazy but I ain’t dumb. Crazy Cooter coming at you."
“The Dukes of Hazzard” was a hit for CBS and its popularity never waned. It went into syndication and later became of prominent fixture on cable's The Nashville Network.
Jones also credited the series with pulling him out of a self-destructive, alcoholic lifestyle that led to the failure of several marriages.
″It was like being in a Beatles movie,″ Jones said. ″Our lives changed.″
After “The Dukes of Hazzard,” Jones went into politics. He kept his aw shucks personality, but took the issues seriously. In his four years in Washington, Jones was known as a Democrat who could buck his party. He was liberal on social issues and conservative on economics.
But even in politics, he made a splash. After losing in 1992 in his redrawn district, Jones ran for Congress again in 1994. He lost to Newt Gingrich in the elections that elevated the Republican to the Speaker's Office.
Jones would file an ethics complaint that Gingrich used tax-deductible donations to fund his partisan college course leading to a House reprimand and Gingrich's decision to leave the body.
Jones always embraced his role as Cooter. After moving to Virginia, he would open at least three “Cooter's” country stores in Nashville and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and near his home. They sold plenty of T-shirts, key chains and insulated tumblers and included Dukes of Hazzard memorabilia like one of the 300 or so General Lee cars used and abused in the TV series.
The show and Cooter lived on because it was funny, had plenty of action and car chases and had a good, family-friendly heart, Jones told the Richmond Times-Dispatch at a 2001 car show where he played in a band, signed autographs and met fans.
“The show reflects the values of the heartland of America. The good guys always win,” Jones said.
FILE - Ben Jones, Democratic candidate for Georgia's 6th Congressional District, assembles campaign signs outside his headquarters in Roswell, Ga., Oct. 20, 1994. (AP Photo/Leita Cowart, File)
FILE - Congressional candidate Ben Jones, center, prepares to watch the Hawks-Pacers NBA game at the Omni arena Nov. 8, 1988, Atlanta, GA. (AP Photo/Joe Holloway Jr., File)
FILE - Cooter, actor Ben Jones, sits atop one of the 229 hotrods, named the General Lee, used in the show "Dukes of Hazzard" as ecstatic fan, Aliceson Johnson, of Charlottesville, Va., sits in the drivers seat in front of his store in Sperryville, Va., Tuesday, Aug. 10, 1999. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)