Final score: Storm 70 – Monarchs 56 (W) (1-3)

Attendance | 4528 (ouch)

Anthem Watch | Very traditional - slow and operatic. We had reports of dogs in the neighborhood going "Huh, did you hear something" on those high notes though.

Fan Psyche | WE WON! Refs, you still suck.

Game Highlight | Lauren Jackson blocking a Ticha Penicherio shot back into the stone age.

Halftime | Jugglers with extremely tall unicycles.

Game Photos | Game Photos (Scott Larson)

That was a satisfying win, by any accounting. The Storm played a solid all around game and even though there were a couple of rough spots, they bounced back after a frustrating loss to beat a very good team. And - attention to all you Sacramento fans out there who keep whining about the Storm win last season when your big guns were on the bench - this was a convincing win over a fully healthy Monarchs team. Ha! Double Ha!

The rough spots were turnovers and a couple of instances on the offensive end during the second half when the team seemed to be confused at to what to do with the ball. In fact, this lull came at just about the same point in the game as it did against LA the other night. In both games, the Storm hit their stride and had the momentum at about the 12:30 mark and went into a mini-lull that allowed the other team to get closer. In the LA game, the Sparks capitalized and with Sue out took advantage and shut down the Storm. In this game, the Storm reestablished their intensity and regained the momentum. I don't know if you could say that were able to apply what they learned from that stinging LA loss to this game, but that's what it looked like to me.

Lauren was tearing it up on both ends tonight. She scored another double double and set a new personal WNBA best for rebounds (she is of course no where near her overall personal best since she dominates the WNBL like a towering goliath). She said after the game in a mini-interview with David Locke that it always takes her awhile to get back up to speed at the beginning of the season and now she's back.

Adia Barnes continues to impress just about everybody with not only her non-stop defense but also with her offensive output - a part of her game that was definitely MIA last season. She hit a couple of gamebreaking threes in the second half that had the place jumping. She also found ways to worm her way through the big trees to continually get rebounds. If I'm not mistaken, she wasn't that far away from a double double of her own.

Sandy Brondello, as Chris Rimple described after the game, quietly scored 14 points. She played less time at the point tonight than the LA game and seemed to be able to get shots out of broken plays and taking the Monarchs' guards one-on-one to the basket. Her scoring helped pick up the slack from Sue's 1-for-9 night.

Sue had a rough night. Her shot was off (including a couple chippies) and she had a few errant passes that sailed past the intended recipient. I think that some of the turnovers attributed to her should have been given to the passee (like Alisa and Simone) because they had a hard time holding on to the ball more than just when it was Sue passing to them. Despite the rampant Forum discussion about whether nd how much she should have played tonight, she was in most of the game. I think Sue would have to be in a cast before she would allow herself to sit out.

Everyone who was suited up got some playing time tonight, although most of the bench minutes came in the first half and at the very end of the game. Sun only had a few minutes, but looked good. She had a couple of passes into the post players that were spot on through traffic that I thought for sure were going to be turnovers. Also, her jumper is sweet. There is no way she will ever be a center in the WNBA (her position in the Korean league), but she may turn out to be a solid small forward. I look forward to seeing how she adapts and what she can do once she gets more playing time.

Tully is already on her way to becoming a fan favorite. She is so tenacious and fearless that it is hard not to appreciate her game. During a Monarchs' possession in the second half, Tully was knocked around and either received a blow to her face or hit her face when she fell to the floor (I didn't see which it was). She was in obvious pain and called to the bench to be pulled. When no timeout was called, she got back on defense and went straight into the mug of the Sacramento guard and then double-teamed Tangela Smith in the post. She was called for a foul on a reach-in, but was disgusted with the call even though it stopped play and she was able to leave the court. It was obvious that while she could have committed a foul on purpose to stop play, she was trying to do her job through the pain and hadn't meant to commit the foul. That is the kind of toughness she brings.

The officiating. Oy vey. You know how some sports have a throwback night when the players wear old style uniforms and such? Tonight was a throwback night - back to the days of the crappiest refs in professional sports. Okay, so that time in WNBA history wasn't that long ago, but give me a break. This was flat out horrible. It was so bad at times that the refs were looking at each other with "What are we supposed to do?" looks on their faces. Do we have to start counting out steps so that the refs know how to recognize a travel? Do we have to start counting out seconds so that the refs know how to recognize a 3-second violation? When we can hear hands slapping skin up in the stands 40 or 50 feet away, how can they not call fouls regardless of which way it should go? Do you know how hard you have to bump into someone to send them flailing backward? Apparently the refs don't have that piece of common sense because DeMya Walker put on an act worthy of the Diva tonight and was rewarded for her flops like she was a damn seal at Sea World. I'm almost glad we didn't have a huge crowd tonight, especially if it had been a lot of new fans to the game. This performance by the refs would have turned them off for sure.

Finally, talk about your poor performances. I don't know if it was faulty equipment or operator error (or both), but the guy running the clock and scoreboard was having some serious technical difficulties. The big instance was at the 7:07 mark when the shot clock quit working and then the main clock went out. It took several minutes and a new keyboard before it was back to normal. But that wasn't the only screw-up. Early in the game, he kept messing up the score on the scoreboard. First he gave the Storm an extra point (the game had been tied at 16, a Storm player hit 2 free throws and then we got a 3 and all the sudden it was 22-16 instead of 21-16). That was eventually corrected, but then he kept giving made points to the wrong team - I was watching for it and saw the scores change up and down a couple of times. Someone quipped that the extra keyboard was so he could type up his resume during the game. Someone else quipped (rather loudly) that maybe it's time to hire a new intern. Man, some fans can be harsh.

Overall, a great win. Not only great because it is the first win of the season, but because we beat a quality team and have made enormous progress compared to the preseason performances. That 0-3 start doesn't look like such a hard hurdle to overcome because if the team can keep playing like they did tonight, the future looks bright.

Other notes:

Speaking of harsh fans - someone down by the Monarchs' bench had a sign that read "Hey Kara, UCONN back 2 back" and held it up during the player intros and again anytime Kara Lawson was in the game. I'm all for getting into the opponents' heads, but that one smarts. (For those who don't follow the NCAA, Lawson is from Tennessee - the hated rival of UCONN).

Does anyone know if Tully can speak Korean? She and Sun seemed to be talking a lot. Just wondering.

Also on the subject of Sun getting used to her new team, Simone was giving her some booty shaking lessons during a timeout. I did get a picture and will have it up soon.

We were subjected to a pants-less mascot. I'm sure the scandal will be rocking KING 5 or Q13 very soon. Doppler tried to get a "choo-choo" train of kids going during a timeout and somehow ended up losing his shorts. The sight of all that red felt waddling across the court has been burned forever into my mind.

A couple of fans all the way from Belgium were given the courtside upgrades tonight. Belgium to Seattle - now that is a road trip.

Edna Campbell seems to be back to her old self. She received a big round of applause from the crowd when she was introduced. She also played fairly well and hit a couple of key baskets for the Monarchs. She may end up playing longer for the Monarchs than she did for the Storm, but we had her first and she'll always be welcomed here.

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