Final score: Storm 74 – Shock 69 OT (W) (9-15)

Attendance | 4323

Anthem Xtra Notes | Of course there are. What am I thinking, that people will quit seeing the anthem as their opportunity for the ultimate cover song and just sing it the way it was written? This is our national anthem for crying out loud, not Wind Beneath My Wings

Anthem High Note | Okay for a guy, I guess

Anthem Style | R&B lite

Fan Noise | Louder as the game wore on

Signs | It wasn't the signs so much as the painted faces

Fan Psyche | Finally!!!

Halftime | Storm Quest

It isn’t always pretty. It takes longer and is harder than it should be. But you know what, a win is a win is a win. And I’ll tell you something else, these summaries are a lot easier to write after a win.

Let’s just get to the highlights.

Jamie Redd – Super Woman. Two 24 point games in a row. She hits a couple shot-clock beating threes tonight that keep the Storm in the game and turn out to be major momentum boosters. She seems to be the only guard who is either being allowed to or has the initiative to drive the lane. The all-time leading scorer for the University of Washington is finally making some prime-time shots.

Team defense. We all know that this season the Storm are undeniably one of the best defensive teams in the league. They are third right now for lowest opponent’s scoring. Of course, the flip side is that they are the lowest scoring team in the league, so even keeping most teams well below their averages means the opponents are still scoring more points than the Storm. You’ve got to know that Coach Dunn is telling the players that the shots will start falling, that forcing turnovers will start leading to easy offense. Well, they are forcing turnovers and playing, at times, incredible team and individual defense. Passes are getting tipped, inbound balls are being stolen, and shots are being blocked. There is one sequence that the stats won’t reveal where the Shock drive to the basket and get blocked, a Shock player gets the rebound and goes up, gets smothered by an LJ and Special K sandwich and loses the ball, rebound Storm. The crowd responds to every defensive play the Storm make by going nuts. The team still isn’t converting turnovers into fastbreaks, but they do better tonight in eventually turning turnovers into points.

Simone Edwards – the Jamaican Hurricane strikes. Simone doesn’t have a necessarily outstanding game by putting up a lot of points or rebounds. She does, however, get some key rebounds and gets the basket that ties the game and forces an overtime. She seems to be in the right spot at the right time throughout the game.

Sonja Henning – she shoots, she scores. Sonja only gets 6 points tonight, but she finally seems to be looking for her shot. And maybe more importantly, she gets 4 offensive rebounds that give the Storm extended life. Only Lauren and 2 Shock players get more total rebounds than Sonja, and no one gets more offensive rebounds than she does. She may not be an offensive powerhouse, but she can make the plays that can turn the game around.

Lauren Jackson – Rookie of the Year. Yes, I’m going out on a limb and, as an amateur member of the media, am proclaiming Lauren as the ROY. Tonight she puts on a complete show, offensively and defensively. Maybe having both Mom and Dad in the stands is helping, and if so I think Mr. and Mrs. Jackson should be given a complimentary Northwest Suites apartment for the whole season next year. Lauren’s stat line looks wrong, because she had at least 3 blocked shots and we are certain that she had more than 9 rebounds. She is all over the court. At one point near the end of regulation, she goes down and kind of scoots backwards a few feet. She gets some help getting up and looks like she’s hurt. KeyArena was quieter than I’ve ever heard it. Like the tough-minded player she is though, she walks it off and continued to play. It’s a good thing that they have a couple days rest before the next game.

The game isn’t all highlights. This is our beloved Storm after all.

There are a couple of stretches where the confidence and crispness in running the offense seems to go out the window. Unfortunately, these lulls happen at key times – like the end of the game. There is a period of about 3 or 4 minutes where the dribble, dribble, dribble rushed bad shot scenario happens over and over. Luckily, the Storm defense is able to keep Detroit from getting too far out of reach.

Team defense. There is the good (see above) and the really bad. The Shock break down the Storm on several occasions and get wide open shots under the basket, or get wide open drives from the three point line to the basket, or get wide-open visions-of-Sophia-Witherspoon-daggers-to-the-heart three pointers. The Shock build a 9 point lead during the first part of the second half that gets the crowd into the oh-no-not-again mode. But, tenacious D, sparks off of the bench and good offensive execution gets the Storm back into the game.

Like I say at the beginning, this is a win and we’ll take it gladly. The only disappointing thing about tonight’s game is that this should have been the sell-out, not last Friday against the Fire. If more people could have seen the Storm play tonight, they would know what us die-hards know – the Storm can play great and have it within them to beat anyone on any given day.

Notes:

As I say above, Lauren’s parents are in the crowd tonight. Angie and I ask them about the whole Aussie, Oi cheer thing. We did get some emailed advice from a very informative Australian fan, but she admitted that we need to hear it to get the timing right. So, tonight we go to the source. We ask Lauren’s father, Gary, about the cheer and he tells us how to do it. He says that it is simple enough and isn’t sure why we need help. Cool. So Lauren hits a three and we do the cheer. After the game, he understands why we need help. A/ we’re not saying it fast enough, and B/ we’re pronouncing it Awwcee instead of Auzzee. Next time, Lauren will think she’s been transported back to Canberra. Yeah, okay.

By the way, Lauren’s parents are just about the nicest people we’ve met.

Michelle Edwards is on the bench with a cast on her left foot. She had surgery last week and is out for the season. The Seattle Times has mentioned that she may retire. Again, we hope that we get an opportunity to let her know how much we have appreciated her time in Seattle before the end of the season.

Before the game, we see Howard Schultz, Mr. Starbucks and owner of the team, talking to Coach Dunn. Being in the 18th row, we of course can’t hear what is said. Coach Dunn is talking and gesturing a lot while Howard seems to listening stoically. We choose not to speculate, but merely report the exchange.

One of the timeout entertainments features two teenage boys doing one of those shooting contests where they are supposed to shoot from designated spots on the floor. Apparently, this basic tenet of the competition is too much for them to handle because they both ignore the spots. Also, apparently they see this as an opportunity to “show those girls that basketball is a boy’s, er man’s, game.” They showboat, try to show off their “skills,” and end up missing the rim, backboard and net on several shots. Neither of them gets more than a couple baskets. They get a few boos for their grand show of skills.

The announced attendance is 4,323. This may have been the number of tickets sold, but there are maybe 1,500 people in the stands. We’ve got to give the small crowd credit though. When the game gets tight and the Storm come back, 1,500 sounds like 5,000.

Before the game, Angie and I met up with Stormrocks and Sassy Sue from the stormfans.org forum to discuss the upcoming stormfans.org end of the season party. That’s right, we’re having a party and you’re all invited. As soon as all the details are finalized, you will be the first to know. Keep an eye on the forum.

After the game, both Astou Ndiaye-Diatta (current Shock forward, but more importantly a former member of the Seattle Reign) and Semeka Randall come out and answer some questions from a small group of fans. Because tonight is the YMCA night, they are asked to talk about their experiences with the YMCA. Both talk about how as kids the YMCA gave them a place to go and activities to do that helped keep them out of trouble. Astou also volunteers when she can with the YMCA. Semeka is asked a few questions about the transition from high school to college and the difference between college and the WNBA. She paints a pretty good picture on how demanding college sports can be. She details what her daily schedule was and made the point that she had to be self-disciplined because no one was there to tell her to go to class or do her homework. Tennessee has requirements for their athletes to do well in class (like sit in the first three rows, or go to certain hours of study hall), and Semeka says that it was tough. But, she finished college in 3 and a half years. As for the difference between college and the WNBA, it’s the physical play. She says that she feels like she can run with anybody, but the physical play has been an adjustment. She also points out that she has been playing basketball since August of 2000 – almost an entire year without a break. Fatigue has been a factor for her. Since Tennessee went so far in last year’s NCAA tournament, Semeka wasn’t able to take a rest between the end of that season and the draft camp. It started the week after the NCAAs finished. She also says, with a big smile, that it has been tough going from chartered flights at Tennessee for travel to the commercial flights that the Storm have to take. She is going to take a month off after the end of this season. Her plans are to go play in either Israel or France during the off season.