Lincecum hopes to pitch Monday

The Minnesota Timberwolves signed guard Ramon Sessions after the Milwaukee Bucks declined to match a $16 million, four-year offer to the restricted free agent. Sessions, who averaged 12.4 points and 5.7 assists last season, is helping to replace Minnesota’s first-round pick Ricky Rubio, who is staying in Spain . . . William Beck, 49, co-owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, died in a single-engine plane crash in South Carolina. Witnesses said the plane turned back shortly after takeoff but crashed and caught fire . . . Erika DeSouza had 15 points and 15 rebounds to help the host Atlanta Dream clinch a WNBA playoff berth with an 88-64 win over Connecticut that eliminated the Sun from postseason contention. Atlanta (18-15) made the second-best single-season turnaround in league history after finishing with 30 losses last year . . . Lisa Leslie scored 19 points in her last regular-season home game for Los Angeles and Tina Thompson also had 19 for the Sparks in a 90-61 rout of the Minnesota Lynx.

Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie and the league have sweetened their bids to buy the Phoenix Coyotes. The new offers came in US Bankruptcy Court. Balsillie offered Glendale, Ariz., $50 million free of conditions to drop its objections to the transfer of the franchise to Hamilton, Ontario. His overall bid is $242.5 million. The league’s offer, which would keep the team in Glendale, remained at $140 million, but for the first time included $14 million for Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes.

Rachel Alexandra’s co-owner Jess Jackson said his horse won’t run in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park Nov. 7, adding he was humbled by the interest in his 3-year-old filly, but “Rachel already has completed a brilliant, long campaign.’’ The Breeders’ Cup had said it would add $1 million to the winner’s share of the $5 million race if both Rachel Alexandra and 5-year-old mare Zenyatta went to the post.

Air Canada says the US Transportation Department’s insistence that the carrier cancel all its season-long sports charter flights would wreak havoc on the upcoming pro hockey and basketball seasons if it is upheld. Teams could have difficulty playing back-to-back games in the United States if they are forced to return to their home country between each game. The agency claims the carrier’s sports charters violate US law because they last for an entire season and sometimes involve travel between US cities rather than solely between Canada and a US destination . . . The eligibility of 800-meter world champion Caster Semenya to compete as a woman is no clearer after gender testing. The International Association of Athletics Federations said it was reviewing the test results and would disclose its findings in November . . . The Boston Blazers chose Cornell midfielder Max Seibald in the first round of the National Lacrosse League draft, followed by Syracuse midfielders Matt Abbott (second round), and Scott Kahoe (third round), former Boston Cannon Matt Messina (fourth round), and Middlebury midfielder Mike Stone (sixth round).