Storm Tracker (May 24-30)

WEEKLY LEADERS
POINTS Bird - 22.0 Jackson - 20.0 Lennox - 13.0 Sam - 10.0 Burse - 8.0 REBOUNDS Jackson - 11.0 Burse - 5.0 Lennox - 4.0 Sam - 3.0 Vodichkova - 3.0 ASSISTS Bird - 2.0 Lennox - 2.0 Many - 1.0
storm.wnba.com PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Rocky Widner/NBAE/Getty Lauren Jackson 20.0 ppg, 11.0 rpg, 2-3 threes, 6-6 free throws It says something meaningful about Jackson that she could score 20 points and grab 11 rebounds against the Mercury for her first double-double of the season, and Phoenix could come away pleased with how it defended her. "Overall, I think everybody that was on her tonight did a pretty good job," Mercury forward Kayte Christensen told PhoenixMercury.com. "She had 20 points, but she had to work for them. She doesn’t like to do that. She usually gets her points pretty easily, so credit our defense tonight." Jackson did seem to tire late in the game, but she carried the Storm at times with her contributions, more than doubling up any of her teammates on the glass.

May 24-30
Record for the week: 0-1
Overall Record: 2-1
Standing: tie 2nd, Western Conference

Friday, May 28, 2004

Storm 35 41 76 at Phoenix 39 45 84

The Storm took to the road for the first time last Friday to take on the Phoenix Mercury in the teams' first regular-season matchup after splitting a pair of preseason tilts. Looking to maintain its undefeated record, the Storm came out strong in the early part of the game, taking an 11-5 lead. Phoenix caught and passed the Storm midway through the half, taking a four-point lead to the locker room. It was the Mercury who were hot to start the second half, going on a 12-2 run after Lauren Jackson scored the first bucket of the second half to cut the lead to two. The rest of the evening, the Storm was fighting to cut into the lead, and got as close as 67-63 with 6:24 left. From that point on, the game belonged to Phoenix's Anna DeForge, who tied a career high with 24 points. 13 of those, including consecutive three-pointers, came after the Storm got within four. Rookie guard Diana Taurasi added 22 points for the Mercury, offsetting the 22 points scored by Sue Bird and Jackson's 20-point, 11-rebound double-double.

Weekly Happenings

Bird and Taurasi had 22 points apiece in their first WNBA meeting. Jeff Reinking/NBAE/Getty

Last Unbeaten
When the Detroit Shock fell to the Liberty in New York on Wednesday, the idle Storm was left as the last undefeated team in the WNBA before losing for the first time at Phoenix. This is not the first time Storm Coach Anne Donovan has coached the last unbeaten team in the WNBA, as her Sting won the first two games of the 2002 season - similarly upsetting the Los Angeles Sparks - before losing to (who else?) the Storm at KeyArena on Jun. 6. (The Sparks were 3-0 before losing to Charlotte, but the Sting was the last undefeated team chronologically.) That Charlotte team finished the season 18-14.

Recently, great starts have been synonymous with the Sparks, who won their first nine games in both 2001 and 2003, finishing with 24-10 and 28-4 records in those seasons. That makes it all the more impressive that the Storm started its season by taking out Los Angeles.

Burse's Bench Effort Key
Statistically, center Janell Burse has been the most productive Storm reserve this season, but those numbers do not do justice to her importance to the team. With starting center Kamila Vodichkova struggling at the start of the season, Burse has stepped up, playing an average of 21.0 minutes through the first three games of the season. She currently ranks fourth on the Storm in scoring and third in rebounding and amongst the WNBA's leaders in field-goal percentage.

Sam Versatile
Acquired with Burse from the Minnesota Lynx in an April trade, Sheri Sam has also been key in the early going by providing the Storm with production in a number of different roles. Sam has been assigned the job of stopper and has defended the opposition's best scorer much of the time thus far, helping hold All-Stars Katie Smith and Mwadi Mabika in check. She's also a quality scorer and rebounder from the small forward position.

Injury Report

Forward Trina Frierson continues to rehabilitate her left knee after undergoing surgery last month. She was placed on the injured list last week.

Forward Alicia Thompson returned from her sprained left ankle and made her season debut Friday at Phoenix.

Around the Web

Mark Bergin of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer also featured Burse for her ability to step up with Vodichkova struggling.

The loss to Phoenix extended the Storm's road losing streak to eight games. The Seattle Times' Jayda Evans dug deeper, looking for how Seattle can turn things around on the road.

Wendy Carpenter of the Tacoma News-Tribune looks at the Storm's fast start (before Friday) and Betty Lennox's leading role.

Fantasy League Update
After the first full week, Kevin Pelton has pulled ahead in the storm.wnba.com Fantasy League, with a commanding 44-point lead over Mark Bergin. In addition to having the top two players in the league in efficiency per game (Jackson and Cheryl Ford), Pelton's been getting great production from free-agent pickup Elena Baranova, who ranks sixth in the league. David Locke's squad has been an early disappointment and currently ranks seventh, something Locke is hoping to rectify by making moves. He signed Liberty rookie and rebound stud DeTrina White as a free agent today. Check out the Fantasy League homepage daily for complete updated standings.

The Week Ahead

Tue, Jun 1 Los Angeles Sparks 7:30 p.m. STAPLES Center 950 KJR AM Thu, Jun 3 Phoenix Mercury 7:30 p.m. KeyArena (tickets) 950 KJR AM and ESPN2 Sat, Jun 5 Sacramento Monarchs 7:00 p.m. ARCO Arena 950 KJR AM and FSN

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