BRIEFLY : HOLDSCLAW HOLDS ON TO ALL-AMERICA STATUS.

Byline: - Daily News Wire Services

Chamique Holdsclaw of Tennessee was a unanimous selection to the Associated Press women's All-America basketball team Tuesday, becoming the first player voted to the first team three times. She was chosen for the third team as a freshman.

Holdsclaw and Purdue's Stephanie White-McCarty were voted to the first team on all 42 ballots from a national media panel. They were joined on that unit by Tennessee's Tamika Catchings, Alabama's Dominique Canty and Colorado State's Becky Hammon.

Maylana Martin of UCLA made the third team.

Harold Rhodes was fired as women's basketball coach at Washington State after only four winning seasons in 17 years.

VOLLEYBALL: UCLA men's coach Al Scates has been reprimanded by Mountain Pacific Sports Federation executive director Al Beaird for derogatory comments about officials. Scates made the comments to the Daily Bruin prior to leaving for competition in Provo, Utah. Beaird said Scates wrote a letter of apology to the MPSF office.

HOCKEY: The NHL will use two referees in all playoff games this year, satisfied with the way the format worked in selected games during the regular season.

The New York Islanders traded defenseman Scott Lachance to the Montreal Canadiens for a third-round pick in the 1999 entry draft.

FOOTBALL: Still stunned by last month's death of offensive coordinator Chip Myers, the Minnesota Vikings promoted Ray Sherman as Myers' replacement. Sherman, re-hired as quarterbacks coach in January, originally had been a leading candidate for the Vikings' coordinator position.