Final - OT
Silver Stars-Storm Preview
Jul 31, 2009 - 5:24 PM By BRETT HUSTON STATS WriterSan Antonio (8-9) at Seattle (11-7), 10:00 p.m. EDT
The Seattle Storm looked to be on their way to a road win against the San Antonio Silver Stars this week, but after three solid quarters, they fell apart in the final period.
They didn't have to wait long for a shot at redemption.
Four days after the Silver Stars hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to knock off Seattle, the Storm look to bounce back Saturday at home when they face San Antonio at KeyArena.
Seattle (11-7) appeared headed for its fourth straight victory Tuesday at the AT&T Center, but its first game following the All-Star break went from promising to ugly in the final 10 minutes. The Storm led 61-51 going into the fourth quarter but struggled down the stretch, losing 74-71 on Sophia Young's 3 as the horn sounded.
Becky Hammon finished with a game-high 24 points for San Antonio, helping to make up for Young's 4-for-17 performance prior to sinking the final shot.
On a positive note for the Storm, Lauren Jackson looked strong in her second game back after missing two with a left Achilles' strain. She finished with 19 points and eight rebounds, but couldn't keep Seattle from losing its sixth straight in San Antonio.
"We definitely didn't have our best game," said Jackson, whose worst effort of the season (1 of 11, 3 points) came in a 66-53 home win over San Antonio on July 7. "We had patches where we were good, but it just wasn't enough. We need to play 40 minutes, not just 10 minutes a half."
While the Storm haven't played since Tuesday, San Antonio (8-9) had a chance to capitalize on the momentum from its comeback win when it traveled to Sacramento on Thursday. Young had 29 points and 11 rebounds while Hammon added a career-high 38 points, but the Monarchs shot 47.9 percent in a 101-93 win.
"It's a shame because I felt that a good portion of the game we had under control," Hammon said after San Antonio fell to 2-6 on the road. "We really made a lot of mistakes defensively. For us, that was the key. It really was not about our offense, it was about our defense."
Silver Stars coach Dan Hughes missed the game to be with his ailing father in Ohio. He's expected to rejoin the team in Seattle.
All-Star game MVP Swin Cash, Seattle's second-leading scorer at 12.3 points per game, averaged 13.3 in her last three contests but shot 30.4 percent (14 of 46) from the field.
- WNBA
FINAL IN 1ST OT 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH 1OT TOTAL
--- --- --- --- --- -----
SAN ANTONIO 12 21 20 24 5 82
SEATTLE 20 19 17 21 8 85 FINAL IN 1ST OT
HIGH SCORERS: SAN - BECKY HAMMON 20, RUTH RILEY 13, SOPHIA
YOUNG 13
SEA - LAUREN JACKSON 23, SUE BIRD 15, SWIN
CASH 12
HIGH REBOUND: SAN - BECKY HAMMON 10, SOPHIA YOUNG 6, THREE
PLA
Aug 2 12:40 AM - 125
roots - WNBA
SAN ANTONIO 12
SEATTLE 20 END, 1ST QTR
Aug 1 10:40 PM
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