Storm-Sky Preview

By MATT BECKER
Posted May 26 2010 3:40PM

Thanks to clutch plays down the stretch, the undefeated Seattle Storm are off to the best start in franchise history.

The winless Chicago Sky have not played with the same poise at the end of games, and are consequently off to their worst start.

Coming off another dramatic win, the surging Storm look to move to 5-0 when they visit the struggling Sky on Thursday night.

Seattle is the only undefeated team in the Western Conference, but could easily be at the bottom of the standings.

The Storm used a 24-7 fourth-quarter run to race past Los Angeles and win their opener 81-67 on May 16. Seattle came from behind again in a 79-76 victory over Minnesota last Wednesday, rallying from a seven-point deficit in the fourth.

At Phoenix on Saturday, Seattle withstood a late Mercury charge and won 95-89 in overtime.

In yet another comeback, the Storm rallied past Washington 82-76 on Tuesday and moved to 4-0 for the first time in franchise history.

Trailing by 10 late in the third quarter, Seattle went on a 31-10 run to go up 72-61 on Tanisha Wright's 3-pointer with 3:11 to go. The Mystics cut the lead to four with 36 seconds left, but Sue Bird made six free throws in the closing seconds to secure the win.

Bird and Wright each scored 16 points, while Lauren Jackson, who averages team highs of 20.0 points and 8.3 rebounds, had 14 points and seven boards.

Although the Storm scored 36 points in the fourth quarter - more than they had in any period last year - the team realizes it needs to stop putting itself in that position.

"I think as a core group we're putting a little more pressure on ourselves to start out of the gate a little faster," said forward Swin Cash, who averages 18.3 points. "That's definitely a point of emphasis for us."

While Seattle has been outstanding down the stretch, Chicago has struggled to make plays late in games.

The Sky (0-4) had chances at the end in each of the last three games, but lost all of them by an average of 5.7 points.

Chicago committed five turnovers in the final 4:27 of a 69-61 defeat at Indiana on Sunday. That came one day after the Sky turned the ball over twice in the final 10 seconds of overtime and fell 92-86 at home to the Fever.

"We know what we have to do as a team,'' said center Sylvia Fowles, who leads Chicago with 17.8 points and 9.0 rebounds a game. "It's been mental stuff. It's the simple stuff we have to crack down on.''

The Sky defeated the Storm in both matchups last season. Seattle had won the first six meetings.

Fowles has 19 to lift Sky over Storm 84-75

Posted May 27 2010 11:37PM

CHICAGO(AP) Sylvia Fowles scored 19 points to lead the Chicago Sky over the previously unbeaten Seattle Storm 84-75 Thursday night.

Cathrine Kraayeveld scored 12 of her 14 points in the second half for the Sky, who got their first win of the season after an 0-4 start.

Reserves Epiphanny Prince and Erin Thorn added 13 points each. Thorn made three 3-pointers.

``That's the beauty of our team, we've got players that can come off the bench and give us a lot of spark,'' Fowles said. ``They came out with a lot of energy and kept the lead up. You can't ask for more than that.''

Lauren Jackson had 15 points and 11 rebounds for Seattle (4-1). Svetlana Abrosimova scored 13 points and Swin Cash had 12.

The Sky finished the first half on a 13-2 run to lead 42-29.

``They executed their game plan and got Sylvia involved early,'' Cash said. ``We just didn't make the adjustments we normally do defensively.''

Seattle cut its deficit to 78-72 on a driving layup by Svetlana Abrosimova with 50.8 seconds left.

Fowles then hit two free throws, before Seattle's Le'coe Willingham converted a three-point play. That made it 80-75 with 26 seconds left, but Thorn hit four consecutive free throws.

``They executed their game plan and got Sylvia involved early,'' Cash said. ``We just didn't make the adjustments we normally do defensively.''

• Storm: --
• Sky: --

• Storm: --
• Sky: --

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 1

• Arena: AllState Arena, Chicago, IL
• Officials: #4 Sue Blauch, #43 Brenda Pantoja, #52 James Williams
• Attendance: 2923
• Duration: 1:57