Silver Stars-Shock Preview

By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO
Posted Sep 11 2011 12:29AM

The San Antonio Silver Stars already know they're saddled with the toughest opening-round playoff series.

Maintaining momentum ahead of it against another lowly opponent could provide a boost.

The Silver Stars look to win for the fifth time in six games in their regular season finale Sunday night, when they attempt to continue their dominance of the Tulsa Shock.

San Antonio (17-16) has clinched a fifth consecutive trip to the playoffs, but the Silver Stars will be pitted against WNBA-leading Minnesota in the best-of-three series. They've lost six in a row to the Lynx entering Friday's playoff opener.

San Antonio is trying to enter the postseason with momentum after Saturday's 82-74 win over Washington, the last-place team in the Eastern Conference.

Now, the Silver Stars will try to take advantage of Tulsa (3-30), which has the worst record in the league and is in position to become the first team in WNBA history to lose more than 30 in a season. The Shock lost a league-record 20 straight games earlier this season, and their current slide is at five.

San Antonio has dominated Tulsa, winning all three 2011 meetings and five in a row overall by an average of 19.0 points.

Sophia Young scored 20 points while Becky Hammon accounted for 19 with five assists to lead the Silver Stars to a 72-64 win in the most recent meeting Aug. 6.

Young and Hammon are also coming off strong efforts Saturday, scoring 17 and 15 points, respectively.

"We're the veterans of this team," Young said. "Whenever things are going down, we have to be able to lead the team."

Hammon, who added 11 assists against the Mystics after signing a multi-year contract extension, is averaging 16.0 points - almost identical to her season mark - in three meetings with Tulsa. She's among the league leaders with 5.8 assists per game.

"We just take what they give us," Hammon said. "And if they want to pay me a lot of attention, then I'm going to find my teammates. We're very good when people knock down shots."

Young has posted 17.3 points per game against the Shock this year.

Tulsa is concluding a second consecutive season out of the playoffs after relocating from Detroit.

The Shock, 2-14 at home, tied a league record for futility Friday, when they lost 84-73 at Los Angeles to equal Atlanta's 30 losses from 2008.

They've shown few signs that they'll be able to avoid sole possession of that record while being outscored by an average of 15.0 points during their current skid.

Tiffany Jackson is averaging 13.8 points and 10.0 rebounds over the last four games, boosting her career highs on the season to 12.2 and 8.4, respectively. The forward had a season-high 27 points while pulling down 10 boards in the latest meeting with the Silver Stars.

Robinson scores 36 to lead Silver Stars over Shock

Posted Sep 11 2011 10:50PM

TULSA, Okla. (AP) Danielle Robinson, who led the Oklahoma Sooners to two Final Four appearances, scored a career-high 36 points to lead the San Antonio Silver Stars to a 102-94 overtime victory over the Tulsa Shock.

Andrea Riley, from Oklahoma State, scored a career-best 20 points for the Shock (3-31), who set the WNBA record for fewest wins in a season. Sheryl Swoopes also had 20 points for Tulsa, followed by Tiffany Jackson with 19, Liz Cambage with 15 and Amber Holt with 11.

``I think we played a well-fought game as a team,'' Riley said. ``It just hurts so bad when you fight that hard and don't come out on top.''

Joining Robinson in double figures for the Silver Stars (18-16) was Jia Perkins, who had 22 points, including four 3-pointers and Danielle Adams, who finished with 14 points.

Riley put the Shock ahead 89-85 with 49 seconds left in regulation but San Antonio went on a 5-1 run over the final 33.8 seconds to send the game into overtime. Perkins buried a 3-pointer, and Robinson scored on a driving layup.

Riley had two chances to win the game in regulation. The first came from the free throw line when she made one of two attempts. On the Shock's final possession, Riley dribbled into the front court but when she couldn't find anyone open, she missed on a 3-point try.

``I just wanted to take what the defense gave me,'' she said. ``Unfortunately, it didn't go in. As bad as I thought the shot was, you can't dwell on it. In overtime, they did it, they wanted it more than we did.''

Tulsa interim coach Teresa Edwards would have preferred a better shot.

``It was a great game,'' she said. ``We wouldn't have been in this game had Andrea not played the way she played. In overtime, we just couldn't get a basket. The first 2 1/2 minutes (of overtime) you could tell it was their game.

``Robinson played her butt off. I wish I could have stopped the little rookie from scoring like that. A rookie scoring on us like that. Hats off to her for that game.''

Robinson hit her first nine shots from the field, eclipsing her previous high of 15 points against Phoenix on Sept. 1 with 20 in the first half. Robinson was 14 of 19 from the floor and 8 of 9 at the free throw line.

San Antonio coach Dan Hughes praised his rookie point guard.

``We wanted to rest some players so we put the ball in Danielle's hands and she was awfully good with the basketball,'' he said. ``But that's been indicative of her year. She's really had a good year for us. She continues to evolve. She has some gifts at that position. Give Tulsa credit, they played extremely hard and they played well.''

Robinson looked like a seasoned pro in leading the Silver Stars' offense.

``We needed this win to get some momentum going into the playoffs,'' Robinson said. ``I love playing in Tulsa. The Sooner Nation is awesome. Before the game, I could hear fans chanting, 'D-Rob, D-Rob.' It was a great environment.

``Riley is a great player, we've had the rivalry in college. She hit those 3s to help her team. We both competed very, very well for our teams. We just happened to come out on top.''

• Silver Stars: --
• Shock: --

• Silver Stars: --
• Shock: --

• Lead Changes: 14
• Times Tied: 8

• Arena: BOK Center, Tulsa, OK
• Officials: #42 Roy Gulbeyan, #24 Tony Dawkins, #28 Angelica Suffren
• Attendance: 5949
• Duration: 2:09