• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Storm rally in 4th quarter to edge Sun, 83-82

Aug 6, 2010 - 5:47 AM SEATTLE (AP) -- Tanisha Wright made the tying and go-ahead free throws with 53.9 seconds left, and Lauren Jackson scored 31 points as the Seattle Storm rallied in the final 3 minutes to beat the Connecticut Sun 83-82 Thursday night.

Swin Cash had 21 points and Camille Little added 10 to help the league-best Storm (23-4) snap a two-game losing streak, their only skid of the season.

Tina Charles scored 23 points and Renee Montgomery added 22 for the Sun (13-14), who lost their fourth straight and dropped 2 1/2 games behind New York for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Asjha Jones had 13 points and nine rebounds, and Kara Lawson added 10 points.

Trailing 81-76, Sue Bird made a 3-pointer from the left corner with 2:07 left and Cash hit two free throws 47 seconds later to tie the score.

"We just had to dig down to pull that off," said Bird, who finished with eight points and six assists. "It just came down to a couple of possessions and us getting the shots that we needed and the scores that we needed."

Montgomery made a free throw to put Connecticut ahead 82-81 with 1:05 to go, but she then fouled Wright on the next trip downcourt, and Wright hit both of her free throws.

"Yeah, it was just playing aggressive always," Montgomery said of the foul that decided the game. "Sometimes, you just gotta know when to be aggressive and when not to be."

Connecticut had one last try at the buzzer, but Tan White's shot from the top of the key bounced off the rim.

"It was a great game, but we didn't win," Sun coach Mike Thibault said. "(It was) bad poise - a shot clock violation, we go to sleep on a three by Sue Bird, we get beat to a loose ball and had a ridiculous foul. And now, it puts us under .500, and we got a lot of ground to make up."

Seattle led 51-41 early in the third quarter before Connecticut had a 25-11 scoring advantage the rest of the period to take a four-point lead. White's 3 put the Sun up 64-62, starting a 10-0 surge that extended into the early part of the fourth quarter and pushed the lead to 71-62.

The Storm are now within one win of locking up homecourt advantage for the entire playoffs.

"There was something riding on this, and we all wanted to get back on the winning side of this, so that's where we were coming from," Bird said.

Not to mention coming from behind in the fourth quarter to pull out the victory for the 11th time this season.

"I thought the last four minutes of the game we finally decided to get them guarded," Storm coach Brian Agler said. "We were really active defensively, and we executed sharply at the offensive end. It's good to have to go through that, because we know we're going to have to go through that in a few more weeks (in the playoffs)."

Jackson also had eight rebounds for Seattle, which finished with a 35-27 edge.