"I thought we played well last night," Donovan said. "It's hard (to tell) because China really wasn't ready to play, in my opinion. They still looked like a team that hadn't practiced together or played together very much at all."
 Storm forward Tonya Massaline defends China's Miao Lijie during last night's exhibition. Ron Wurzer/AP |
"We knew they would run on us and we were focusing on transition defense, and they still kicked our butt," she said. "It's something we were focusing on, and it's good to have the scrimmage to show us just how much we have to work on that. Offensively, (I was) very impressed with what we had. In our sets, out of our sets, we didn't have a problem scoring last night."
On a night which saw the Storm win by 40-plus points and get to 93 points - as many as they've ever scored during a regular-season game - during the first 40 minutes of action, there were plenty of players who had good nights. When asked, Donovan singled out four players as top performers.
"Tully (Bevilaqua) had a great night last night," said Donovan. "I thought Sheri (Sam) really stepped it up last night. She gave us the defense we brought her in for, and we got to see a lot more of that last night. Alicia (Thompson), probably, was a highlight also, and Lauren (Jackson). Those are the top ones for sure."
In Jackson's case, the strong performance - 32 points on 14-for-19 shooting - helped wipe away a couple of subpar practices that Donovan termed "an adjustment period", given Jackson is still less than a week away from a lengthy flight from Russia to Seattle and also returning to the WNBA's smaller basketball.
"She was determined, she had a couple of - in her mind - bad days in practice," said Donovan. "She perceives not making every shot as a bad day. She came in with Jessie Kenlaw, worked out twice, they were determined to get her shooting touch back, and it showed - the work paid off."
"It's taken a little while, obviously, but I'm still getting there," Jackson said of her performance so far during camp. "Things are a little bit slow at the moment, but it's all good."
Thompson, meanwhile, did exactly what the Storm wants her to do - control the glass. She pulled down 11 rebounds coming off the bench, many of them impressive caroms in traffic.
"That's why Alicia Thompson is here, because she's such a tremendous rebounder," commented Donovan.
Donovan reiterated not to read too much into her choices in terms of the starting lineup (which included Betty Lennox at shooting guard and Adia Barnes at small forward, the two positions most hotly contested during training camp) or rotations.
"We play Phoenix on Saturday," said Donovan, understandably tired of being asked after every scrimmage. "I'll answer that question on Saturday, I guess."
She did answer one question, why rookie guard Michelle Greco did not play during the second or third periods. Greco suffered an injury during the exhibition and did not practice today.
Lambert a Possibility?
One of the more interesting names on the waiver wire as WNBA teams cut down to no more than 15 players in camp yesterday was former Phoenix Mercury point guard Sheila Lambert. A Seattle native and Chief Sealth High School grad who was named to the Seattle Times' all-century team for women's high-school basketball, Lambert played 27 games last year for the WNBA Champion Detroit Shock before being traded to the Mercury in a draft-day deal.
Lambert was one of the top ten players in the league in scoring on a per-minute basis last season, and her release may have something to do with her salary. Lambert was claimed off of waivers by the Shock last May, and was still on her rookie contract - which is apparently not only above the minimum for non-veterans, but also the veteran minimum. If Lambert clears waivers, she should be able to sign a smaller deal, and the Storm would have interest.
"Sheila Lambert's salary is an issue," said Donovan, who was partially responsible for selecting Lambert with the seventh pick of the 2002 Draft while in Charlotte, "so we're waiting to see what happens with that."
"People aren't really aware of that (her salary) with her," Donovan added. "Right now, for the next 48 hours (the waiver period), we're waiting to see what happens with her."
