Who will be the next WNBA player to dunk? Judging from this picture, Houston Comets 6-5
center Michelle Snow may be a candidate.
Snow scored 14 points Tuesday - her seventh straight game in double figures - but Houston
lost a tough one at
Phoenix. Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty Images
Shock Try On First Place For Size
Detroit outmuscles Connecticut, gains East
tiebreaker: The Detroit Shock and Connecticut Sun have been
swapping the top spot in the Eastern Conference for most of the season, and Tuesday was no
exception. The Sun arrived in the Motor City with a half-game lead but left in a half-game
hole following a loss to
the Shock, who played the role of schoolyard bully. Connecticut held a one-point lead
early in the fourth quarter before Detroit started going inside to frontcourt players Plenette Pierson and Cheryl Ford, who combined for 17 points in
the period. All of the power numbers favored the Shock, who held a 35-25 advantage on the
boards, an 18-12 margin in free throws and a staggering 50-32 edge in points in the paint.
"They got shots around the basket," the Sun's Asjha Jones said. "They made plays that we
didn’t." The win gave the Shock the season series and the tiebreaker edge over the Sun,
which could come into play given how the teams have jockeyed for the East's top spot. "We
still have thoughts in our head about getting beat so badly by Connecticut on their home
court," said Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer,
whose team remained unbeaten at home. "So we knew that we needed this game so that we could
have home court in the playoffs."
ALSO MAKING HEADLINES ...
Home Cooking Continues for San Antonio:
The Silver Stars improved to 10-1 at the AT&T Center with Tuesday's win over the New York
Liberty. San Antonio's lone home loss was an 82-81 setback to Houston on June 24.
Overall, the Stars have won five in a row for the second time this season and opened a
one-game lead over idle Los Angeles atop the Western Conference. San Antonio is 0-3 vs.
Houston and 13-3 vs. everyone else. ... In Seattle's easy win at Sacramento,
Storm star Lauren Jackson played just
28 minutes and scored 17 points, falling well short of her third straight 30-point game,
which would have tied a WNBA record. Jackson scored 33 and 34 points in her last two games,
establishing season highs each time.
Jackson
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
"We are just going to try to put our heads together but try not to overanalyze. I never
question their heart or their effort but we took a heartbreaking loss in San Antonio and it
just looks like we haven’t fully recovered yet. We didn’t play well tonight. I don’t think
you can look at a single stat that we did well in tonight."
-- Monarchs coach Jenny Boucek, who
held a 25-minute meeting with her team after Tuesday's home loss to Seattle in
which Sacramento led for less than a minute.
When Diana Taurasi decides to hang 'em
up, she probably will do so as the WNBA's all-time leading scorer. In Phoenix's home win over Houston,
the WNBA's leading scorer this season tallied 30 points to eclipse 3,000 for her career.
The star swingman of the Phoenix Mercury reached the plateau in 151 games, 11 less than it
took Lauren Jackson, who previously was
fastest to 3K. However, Taurasi is more than a scorer. She also had team highs of six
assists, three steals and three blocks while grabbing five rebounds. To illustrate what a
complete player Taurasi is, she is in the top 20 in every league statistical
category
listed on the bottom of her stats
page.
LOCKDOWN OF THE NIGHT
After one half at the Verizon Center, the Indiana Fever were smothering the Washington
Mystics. The lowest-scoring team in the WNBA, the Mystics were held to a season-low 14
points on 7-of-26 shooting in their own building as the Fever opened a 15-point lead.
Washington coach Tree Rollins must have given some halftime
speech, because the Mystics completely turned the tables on the Fever in the second half.
Washington limited Indiana to 19 points after halftime, including just eight in the pivotal
fourth quarter. The Fever made just 8-of-25 shots and committed 12 turnovers in the second
half of a 50-48 loss
that was the lowest-scoring game in the WNBA this year. Leading the defensive effort for
Washington were Nakia Sanford with 11
rebounds and Monique Currie with three
blocks, both season highs.
July 8, 2008: Scoreboard |
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