Storm-Silver Stars Preview

By ALAN FERGUSON
Posted Jul 21 2010 4:46PM

Like the rest of the Western Conference, the San Antonio Silver Stars have had no success beating the Seattle Storm.

The Silver Stars get their final chance Tuesday at home to take down the league's best team, which will try to secure a seventh consecutive playoff berth and extend its franchise-record win streak to 10 games.

In its fourth meeting with San Antonio this season, Seattle will also attempt to match Houston's 19-2 start in 2000. Only the 1998 Comets had a better record before suffering their third loss following a 25-2 start.

Both of those teams went on to win the WNBA title, and the Storm (18-2) can take another step toward a championship quest with a win or a Los Angeles loss to Tulsa later on Tuesday.

A win over the Silver Stars (7-12) seems more likely. The Storm are 13-0 against the West, including three victories against San Antonio by an average of 21 points.

In its previous trip to the AT&T Center on May 30, Seattle recorded a 84-56 rout behind Lauren Jackson's 27 points. The only San Antonio player in double figures was Roneeka Hodges, who had 12 off the bench.

Jackson helped the Storm rally for a 73-71 win at Minnesota on Saturday by scoring 14 of her 26 points in the fourth quarter. Seattle also overcame a season-high 23 turnovers.

"We've got a resilient team, and they just find ways to do it," coach Brian Agler said.

Jackson, second in the league with 22.1 points per game, is averaging 26.7 over the last six contests, and scored 31 in an 86-72 home win over San Antonio on June 29. She's averaged 25.7 points and 11 rebounds against the Silver Stars this season.

Fighting for one of the West's other three playoff spots, San Antonio hasn't helped itself by losing five of seven. The Silver Stars, though, won for the fourth time in five home games Sunday, 83-73 over Los Angeles.

Hodges led the way with a season-high 24 points for her fourth double-figure scoring performance in five games.

"I felt real comfortable out there," said Hodges, who averaged 4.5 points in her first 14 games this season. "As a shooter, when you see one go through there, it's like (the basket) gets bigger and bigger."

San Antonio, averaging a league-worst 74.0 points this season, is 6-1 when tallying at least 80, but has averaged 63.0 against Seattle

Seattle, which trails 19-18 in the all-time series, has never won four straight in one season over San Antonio.

Jackson scores 21 as Storm beat Silver Stars 80-74

Posted Jul 20 2010 4:46PM

SAN ANTONIO(AP) Lauren Jackson, Sue Bird and La'Coe Willingham hit key fourth-quarter 3-pointers Tuesday as the Seattle Storm extended their winning streak to 10 by rallying to defeat the San Antonio Silver Stars 80-74.

Seattle (19-2) is off to the second-best start in WNBA history. The now-defunct Houston Comets opened the 1998 season 19-1 and were 25-2 before their third loss.

The Silver Stars (7-13) led by 10 with 3:14 left in the third quarter, but Seattle closed the gap to 57-55 by the end of the period. Down by 3 with 8:24 left, the Storm went on a 14-4 run highlighted by two 3-pointers from Jackson, who led all scorers with 21 points.

``We don't really get panicked,'' said Jackson, who had 12 points after halftime. ``Everyone just sort of rallies and does their own thing, and we manage to pull it out.''

The Storm have not lost to a Western Conference team this season, but their past three victories - over Phoenix, Minnesota and San Antonio - have been by a total of 12 points.

``All of a sudden, because we have the best record in the league, people expect us to win by 20 every game,'' said Bird, who finished with 20 points. ``I've experienced that actually in college (at Connecticut). It's not something we expect. We know this league is way too good.''

Improved defense was a key for Seattle down the stretch. The Silver Stars hit only eight of their final 18 shots and committed five turnovers after securing their biggest lead.

``We didn't fight enough in the end, or we didn't have enough spark or heart of something to push it through to the end,'' said Sophia Young, who scored 12 of her team-high 18 points for San Antonio in the first half. ``Our turnovers caused them to get a lot of transition buckets. We kept doing it over and over.''

The victory completed a 4-0 season sweep for Seattle over San Antonio, which has lost six in a row to the Storm.

The Silver Stars stretched a one-point halftime lead into a 56-46 edge midway through the third period. Michelle Snow scored six of her 16 points in the 15-6 San Antonio run.

Bird scored five straight points for Seattle to cut the deficit in half, and Swin Cash's 3-pointer with 50.5 seconds left in the period narrowed the Silver Stars' lead to 2 entering the fourth quarter.

Willingham's 3-pointer with 7:19 left, her only field goal in the game, gave Seattle the lead for good at 65-64.

• Storm: --
• Silver Stars: --

• Storm: --
• Silver Stars: --

• Lead Changes: 17
• Times Tied: 10

• Arena: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX
• Officials: #9 Denise Brooks-Clauser, #24 Tony Dawkins, #55 Eric Brewton
• Attendance: 12414
• Duration: 1:52