Thursday links: Elena Delle Donne does it again, Minnesota looks to secure WNBA's best record

Two buzzer beaters grabbed headlines last night, with one victor building momentum for the playoffs while the other has to look ahead to next season.

Meanwhile, other sports franchises drew the ire of Keith Olbermann

• Shannon Ryan of the Chicago Tribune reports that the final play of the Chicago Sky's 70-68 win over the Phoenix Mercury last night wasn't even designed for rookie Elena Delle Donne, who added another memorable shot to an outstanding rookie campaign. But Ryan also highlights the other end of the ball for the Sky: they held a Mercury team (without Diana Taurasi or Penny Taylor) to just eight points in the fourth quarter. Read more >>>

• Ryan also reported that Avery Warley was signed by the Chicago Sky leaving point guard Sharnee Zoll-Norman out of the job for a second year in a row due to an injury. Read more >>>

• John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant reported on some last second heroics that occurred at Mohegan Sun Arena last night where the Connecticut Sun used a last second alley oop play to beat the Atlanta Dream 78-77. Still, questions abound for the Sun who have a number of free agents this offseason and need to decide whether it's reasonable to continue holding the current roster to championship expectations. Read more >>>

• Marc Allard of the Norwich Bulletin reports that Connecticut Sun guard Kara Lawson won't publicly discuss the specifics of her knee injury but did say "it's just an injury that needs rest". Allard also writes that, "Lawson, like fellow guard Renee Montgomery, is under contract for the next two years with the Connecticut Sun and fully expects to be back at the Mohegan Sun Arena next season." Read more >>>

• The AP reports that the Minnesota Lynx can secure the best record in the WNBA - and home court advantage throughout the playoffs - with a win in Los Angeles tonight. If that's not enough motivation for them to win tonight, perhaps the fact that they've lost by a combined 58 points in their two previous visits to L.A. will be. Read more >>>

• Heather Burns of espnW looks back at Katie Smith's career in terms of how she has been overshadowed by other luminaries in women's basketball her entire career, from the 1993 NCAA Championship game against Texas Tech when "Sheryl Swoopes scored 47 in one of the greatest performances ever to lead her Lady Raiders to the NCAA title" all the way to retiring with Tina Thompson. Read more >>>

• I didn't do power rankings this week because the order should be clear - and in some cases, clearly unpredictable - but tonight's game between Seattle and Tulsa is at least somewhat interesting because it will put the fifth and sixth ranked offenses against each other, according to the numbers at National Sports Rankings. Also interesting from perusing numbers: ESPN's 2013 WNBA Hollinger Power Rankings still have New York last and Connecticut 11th, highlighting the sad state of affairs for the Liberty this season.
  

• Cheryl Nichols of the District Sports Page reports that the Washington Mystics and Wizards will become the first NBA and WNBA teams to launch a rewards programs. Please feel free to speculate about what rewards Albert might like to receive. Read more >>>

• Keith Olbermann looked at the decisions some sports teams that lacked "the wisdom of that Krusty the Clown had" in "selling 9/11" yesterday. This included mockery of the Los Angeles Lakers, among other things, which makes the video worth showing. Watch the video >>>

• Makers tweeted out an article by Carla Baranauckas of the Washington Post that profiled Army Col. Jill Chambers who was at the Pentagon on 9/11. Chambers has now retired but has dedicated her life to helping others work through post traumatic stress syndrome though her program This Able Vet. Read more >>>

There's obviously more to be found floating around the web so feel free to share in the comments below or with a fanshot. If you have a longer commentary to make, write up a fanpost.