Sparks dismiss Toler

The Sparks fired GM Penny Toler on Friday, a move that followed a postgame tirade when the team lost Game 2 in the second round of the WNBA playoffs.

The team said Eric Holoman, the team’s managing partner and governor, will replace Toler as GM and executive VP on an interim basis.

The Sparks finished atop the Western Conference with a 22-12 regular-season record. But they were swept in three games by the Sun in the postseason.

ESPN reported Thursday that Toler entered the Sparks locker room after the loss Sept. 19 and launched into an obscenity-laced speech that included racial slurs. Toler, who’s black, acknowledged using the slurs but told ESPN they weren’t directed at any of the players.

In Toler’s tenure since 1999, the Sparks won the WNBA title in 2001, ’02 and ’06.

College basketball: Amateur coach Merl Code, 45, was sentenced in federal court to three months in prison for his role in the bribery scheme that sought to steer impressionable, NBA-bound athletes toward fledgling money managers and handlers.

Golf: Former champ Kevin Na made two eagles on the back nine and shot a 9-under 62 to grab a share of a one-stroke lead midway through the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in his hometown of Las Vegas. Na reached 12-under 130, joining Lucas Glover (63), 2017 tournament winner Patrick Cantlay (64) and Brian Stuard (65). ... Alena Sharp shared a one-stroke lead with Brittany Altomare and Cheyenne Knight midway through the LPGA Tour’s Volunteers of America Classic in The Colony, Texas. ... Rafa Cabrera Bello shared a one-stroke lead with fellow Spaniard and rookie Adri Arnaus midway through the Spanish Open in Madrid.

Tennis: World No. 1 Rafael Nadal of Spain withdrew from next week’s Shanghai Masters due to a left hand injury.

Track and field: Dalilah Muhammad, 29, of the U.S. won the 400-meter hurdles at the world championships in Doha, Qatar, breaking her own 10-week-old world record with a time of 52.16.