Lynx Fall to Storm

Lynx Postgame Audio
Head coach Jen Gillom

Quanitra Hollingsworth

LaToya Pringle

Nicky Anosike

Seattle marched into the Target Center and rained all over the Lynx parade with a dominating 88-71 victory on Friday night.

"I think that with the three wins, this is a young team that thinks we can beat everybody. Reality set in. I knew it may come, but I didn't think it would come this early," head coach Jennifer Gillom said.

From the opening tip, the Storm controlled the paint as Lauren Jackson displayed an all-around performance, handing Minnesota its first loss of the 2009 season. Jackson scored an efficient 22 points by shooting 50 percent from the field. The 6-5 center used her three-inch height advantage on Nicky Anosike in the post and cleaned the glass with 11 boards.

The determined Seattle squad benefited from the distribution skills of Sue Bird. With seven assists, Bird and the Storm dictated the pace of the game while applying heavy defensive pressure throughout the game.

Offensively, Minnesota looked eerily similar to the start against the Sparks on Wednesday night. Unfortunately on Friday night, the Lynx could not dig out of sizeable deficit for a majority of the game. Minnesota only shot 20 percent in the first quarter but fought back late in the game to finish 43.5 percent from the floor.

"Defensive rotations were not there tonight," Gillom said. "That's how we won our first three games. Tonight it just wasn't there. I know they have more three-point shooters, but I just think that we didn't communicate well defensively. I also think we didn't execute very well offensively."

The Lynx stars fizzled in the loss as Seimone Augustus, Anosike, and Candice Wiggins only combined for 28 points. On the bright side, Charde Houston seemed to be the only player for Minnesota to find rhythm on the offensive side of the floor. Houston finished with 18 points in 25 minutes.

Rookies Quanitra Hollingsworth and Renee Montgomery showed promise off the bench. Hollingsworth battled Jackson in the paint and contributed nine points and nine rebounds. Montgomery earned 22 minutes of court time and finished with 10 points.

Minnesota fell to 3-1 with a three-game road trip on the horizon. The team will hit the practice floor for the next three days before facing Sacramento on Tuesday night. Head coach Jennifer Gillom heads to Tennessee on Saturday for her induction into Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.

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