Sky-Storm Preview

By TOM CASTRO
Posted Sep 17 2012 3:39PM

The Chicago Sky continued a road-heavy stretch of schedule with a key win over a struggling opponent in their last game, keeping pace in the race for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.

The Sky may need to duplicate that feat when they visit the Seattle Storm on Tuesday night, or they could find themselves eliminated from contention by the end of the evening.

Chicago (13-18) routed Phoenix 86-55 on Sunday to remain one game behind New York for fourth place with three to play. The Liberty, though, have secured the conference tiebreaker, which means the Sky will have to finish with a better overall record than New York.

The result is that a Chicago loss and a New York win Tuesday would end the Sky's hopes.

The Sky are 6-7 during a 14-game stretch in which nine games are on the road, and Chicago has gone 3-6 in those contests.

The tough stretch has made it difficult to keep up with the Liberty, who have won three in a row and five of six while playing five of those games at home. New York, though, begins a two-game trip Tuesday, while Chicago will be playing its road finale.

The Sky, 7-9 away from home, had little trouble with the Mercury, leading 55-26 at halftime en route to posting the largest margin of victory in franchise history. Shay Murphy scored 20 of her career-high 22 points in the first half as Chicago won for the fourth time in six games.

The Sky will try to keep the pressure on the Liberty as they face a Seattle club that's stumbling toward the playoffs. The Storm (13-18) will be the fourth seed in the West but haven't shown any indication lately that they'll be a threat to first-round opponent Minnesota, falling 60-58 to Connecticut on Sunday in a franchise record-tying fourth consecutive defeat - a slide matched earlier this season.

Seattle's previous three losses came by an average of 21.3 points, and the team can likely draw some other positives from the latest defeat. The Storm played without injured stars Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson - both day-to-day - and still nearly defeated the first-place team in the East.

"I thought it was a great effort and we definitely put ourselves in position to win the game," said coach Brian Agler, whose team lost on Renee Montgomery's two free throws with 14.4 seconds left. "I feel bad for our team that we didn't come through."

Chicago beat Seattle 74-58 on June 13 behind 17 points from Epiphanny Prince and 16 and 15 rebounds from Sylvia Fowles.

Thompson hits milestone in Storm's win

Posted Sep 19 2012 1:14AM

SEATTLE (AP) Tina Thompson scored 10 points to become the first WNBA player to reach the 7,000 for her career and help the Seattle Storm beat the Chicago Sky 75-60 on Tuesday night.

Ann Wauters scored 16 points, Katie Smith added 13 and Ewelina Kobryn had 12 for Seattle (14-18).

The Storm, who already have clinched a ninth consecutive playoff berth, snapped a four-game losing streak.

``I didn't know about it until today,'' Thompson said about the chance to break 7,000 points. ``Winning is first and foremost for me. These things are great and it's something I'll probably relish in and enjoy after my career. But for me winning is always first so getting a win definitely makes it sweeter.''

Epiphanny Prince had 21 points and Shay Murphy 12 to lead Chicago (13-19). The Sky remained one game behind New York for the fourth and final Eastern Conference playoff berth. The Sky have yet to make the playoffs since joining the league in 2006.

Thompson hit a 13-foot jumper off an assist from Tanisha Wright to break the milestone with 9:02 left in the first half. The 15-year veteran entered the game seven shy of the mark. She had all her points in the first half.

Seattle coach Brian Agler enjoyed the chance to see Thompson set the milestone.

``She's just a true professional,'' Agler said. ``She comes to work every day and takes care of herself. She's got one of the nicest touches on the basketball that I've ever been around. She knows how to score. She's a good teammate and a proven winner.

``You watch her play and she makes winning basketball plays. She'll go down as one of the all-time greats.''

Sue Bird, who had eight assists for Seattle after missing three games with a hip flexor, put some perspective on Thompson's achievement.

``It's very impressive and definitely speaks to her ability to score, her longevity and her consistency,'' Bird said. ``You can't overlook those things. There's going to be a lot of players that come and go in this league and only a few are going to have those qualities and she's one of them.''

Seattle, which led by as many as 21 points in the first half, scored the first eight points of the third quarter to lead 54-28 and were up 60-32 midway through the period.

``We never quite recovered from the first swing that Seattle threw,'' Sky coach Pokey Chatman said. ``I think they shot 57 percent in the first half and we never quite recovered from that. I felt we had good looks, but they didn't go down.''

Thompson scored 10 points and Smith had nine to help the Storm to a 46-28 halftime lead. The Storm shot 57 percent (16 of 28, including 6 of 10 from 3-point range, in the first half while Chicago shot 31.6 percent (12 of 38).

Storm center Lauren Jackson (strained hamstring) missed her third consecutive game. Jackson said after the game she will return on Friday against San Antonio.

Seattle, fourth in the Western Conference, will open the playoffs the latter part of next week against Minnesota.

Chicago center Syliva Fowles missed her fifth straight game with a lower leg injury.

Swin Cash had six points and seven rebounds in her first return to Seattle since being traded with Le'coe Willingham in the offseason to Chicago for the No. 2 draft pick, which the Storm used to select Shekinna Stricklen.

• Sky: --
• Storm: --

• Sky: --
• Storm: --

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 0

• Arena: Key Arena, Seattle, WA
• Officials: #18 Kurt Walker, #44 Felicia Grinter, #46 Tim Greene
• Attendance: 6459
• Duration: 1:50