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Mystics-Storm Preview

Aug 24, 2009 - 8:16 PM By BRETT HUSTON STATS Writer

Washington (13-14) at Seattle (15-11), 10:00 p.m. EDT

Two victories last week, one of them against the best team in the WNBA, has the Seattle Storm building momentum.

A blowout loss to the worst club in the league has had the opposite effect on the Washington Mystics.

The Storm look to make it three consecutive wins while solidifying their hold on the second seed in the Western Conference when they host the Mystics on Tuesday night.

Seattle (15-11) got off to a rough start in August, dropping four of six and looking like it was starting to lose its grip on the No. 2 spot.

Lauren Jackson ensured the Storm wouldn't go winless on a three-game road trip Tuesday in Detroit, scoring a season-high 36 points in a 79-75 win. Jackson was held to 11 points against league-leading Indiana on Saturday, but Sue Bird scored 16 points to lead six Seattle players in double figures in a 74-60 victory.

"The last two games, we've started to play with much more of a purpose," coach Brian Agler said. "But it's only two games. We have to keep bringing this over and over and over if we're going to be one of the elite teams in this league.

"I thought tonight's game was one of the most consistent games we've played all year long. We were solid every single quarter."

Seattle is 2 1/2 games behind Phoenix for the top spot in the conference, but only two ahead of third-place Los Angeles.

Fourth-place Washington (13-14) is 1 1/2 games out of second place in the East, but just two games ahead of last-place New York.

The Mystics appeared to be headed in the right direction after the first two games of their four-game trip. They stayed close throughout during a three-point loss to red-hot Los Angeles on Tuesday, then stunned conference-leading Phoenix 91-81 on Friday.

All that momentum disappeared Saturday, however. Washington turned the ball over 24 times and failed to hit a 3-pointer in an 82-60 defeat to Sacramento, owner of the league's worst record.

"Things just didn't go our way tonight," said forward Crystal Langhorne, who had 16 points and 10 rebounds. "We didn't hit shots when we needed them, we didn't rebound, and we didn't play defense."

Langhorne has stepped up of late, averaging 13.9 points and 8.3 rebounds in her last seven games, but the Mystics need more production from leading scorer Alana Beard. The All-Star guard is averaging 17.1 points on 44.5 percent from the field this season, but 9.3 on 25.7 percent during the trip.

The Storm, 10-3 at home, have won three straight over Washington at KeyArena by an average of 15.3 points.