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Silver Stars-Storm Preview

Jul 6, 2009 - 6:15 PM By KATE HEDLIN STATS Writer

San Antonio (4-4) at Seattle (6-4), 3:00 p.m. EDT

After moving into first place in the Western Conference at the end of June, two tough losses have dropped the Seattle Storm back to the middle of the standings.

The Storm will try to avoid a third straight defeat Tuesday when they open a four-game homestand against the San Antonio Silver Stars, who are winless on the road.

Seattle (6-4) won three in a row from June 19-26 to briefly claim the conference lead. However, the Storm followed a 27-point defeat at Los Angeles on June 28 with a 93-81 loss in Phoenix on Wednesday. The Storm shot 38.5 percent on the winless road trip, and averaged 68 points after scoring 84.0 per game during their three-game win streak.

On Wednesday, Seattle led by three points at the break, but allowed 11 unanswered points to the Mercury to open the second half. Swin Cash had 17 points, nine rebounds and four assists while Lauren Jackson added 17 points and six rebounds in the loss for the Storm, who missed 13 of their first 17 shots after the break.

"Down the stretch we didn't execute like we needed to," Cash said. "It's games like this that you have opportunities to separate yourself. If you're a team that's going to be there in the postseason, you're going to make plays and we didn't do that and that's kind of frustrating. But it's still early and we can learn from this experience. Take this one, go back and do better."

Jackson still leads the league with 22.2 points per game, but has scored a combined 26 while shooting 9 for 24 (37.5 percent) in the last two contests.

Seattle has dropped into third place in the West - one game behind first-place Phoenix and a half-game back of Minnesota. The Storm are looking to take advantage of this homestand to help regain their footing. They are 3-0 at home this season, and will face Sacramento and Detroit - each conference's last-place club - during the stretch.

San Antonio is seeking its first road win in four tries. The Silver Stars defeated Chicago 85-72 on Friday, bouncing back after suffering their first home loss earlier in the week to Washington. After four straight games at home, they play three of their next four on the road.

Sophia Young had 19 points, eight rebounds and four assists while Becky Hammon added 14 points and 10 assists Friday for San Antonio, which had 26 assists on 31 field goals.

"It started with Becky and Sophia, our two playmakers," Silver Stars coach Dan Hughes said. "Both really had good nights distributing."

San Antonio won two of three against Seattle last season, but lost the one meeting at KeyArena.