Submitted by | Shobe

Was this the biggest win in franchise history? It cetainly was with the 93 points the Stom scored, tying the team's all-time record. What I mean is, has there been a more important win in recent years? Coming of a thrilling victory over Minnesota, and with an almost capacity crowd, and playing your rival and top team in the conference, could the team have put a bigger excalamation point on a win?  This will go along way to getting those fans who were first timers to come back again, and gives the team a lot of good exposure for the next week. This is something to build on for the next home game.
 
What happend to our barn burner first half? A second half 15-0 spurt, combined with scoring at total 53 points in the second frame, all but reduced the Sparks to the role of spectators.  
 
After the game, I was talking to assisant coach Jenny Boucek. I told her she should not have called the dogs off and left the starters in at the end, so we could have beaten LA by 30+ points. Jenny Boo said, "I think they feel like we beat them by 30 points."  
 
Betty deserves all the acolades for her 20 point performace, but let's not forget she snared 5 rebounds, that coming after she hauled in 10 boards against Minnesota. Who expects a guard to get 15 rebounds in two games? What Lennox does is get excellent position on the ball in the same way Dennis Rodman used to.
 
B-Money has been described as a water bug on the court, but the same thing can apply to her on the bench. When she is not in, she is all over the place. I don't think she realizes she is taken out of the games to catch a breather.
 
Lisa Leslie may have gotten more points than Lauren tonight, but LJ won the matchup. The Aussie held LL to two points for the bulk of the first half, and only a late spurt  got Leslie to 10 points by the intermission.
 
Speaking of Leslie, first she has to wear tight shorts that go half way up her thighs, but did I see that right tonight, is she cuffing them like a Mom would do to her kids pair of Toughskins? God, the Diva is so desperate to get people to notice her, it's pathetic.
 
How much do we love Michelle Greco? I looked around each time she took a shot, and I swear everyone was halfway out of their seats ready to explode when she sank one.
 
As per my ritual before every Sparks game, I went down before the game and shook hands with Michael Cooper. Complain all you want, but he is a Laker legend, and I will always love him for that. Even though now I'm not fond of the team he now coaches, or their particular stye of play.
 
What is up with Sparks Teresa Weatherspoon's new do? She used to have the coolest hair style in the league. Now she looks like Grace Jones circa 1984.
 
Speaking of the Greed Is Good Decade, previously I mentioned that we all looked like idiots in the 80's. I want to exempt SF7 and Sic-ko from this remark, seeing as both were born in 1982, and could not have commited such satorial abominations. Unlike myself at the time,  who was going through my David Bowie, "Thin White Duke" phase. Modern Love, walks beside me. Modern Love walks on by.
 
A big Hellllll Yeaaaah goes out to Sic-ko who I met for the first time tonight.  Not only is she a huge Storm fan, who made it up this week from So. Cal, but she is a fellow major Laker fanatic. We were going over where we were when Derek Fisher hit the game winning shot against the Spurs (0.4) and how crazy we went. The Laker love was over flowing. It's a beautiful thing. I know she is going to be hating life tomorrow when she is on the plane back to Cali and can't see the Lakers in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals.
 
Speaking of the Lakers, I ran into former Laker Sam (Big Smooth) Perkins and shook his hand. He's wearing a new set of  long dredlocks and it looks totally cool.
 
When the video ran on which Storm player took the longest to get ready after the game, everyone around me said Adia Barnes before it even began. Adia said she is the first one out of the locker room?  Man she's clueless on this one?
 
At the next home game, ask SF7 to show you her Storm tattoo.
 
I expected our big win to get dissed on by FOX Sports Nothwest, but we were the LAST story of the broadcast! To make matters worse, a lacross game at Seahawks Stadium got more coverage than the Storm!!  Just keep winning ladies, and we will force these clown to notice us.
 
David Locke has actually worn a coat and tie for the last three games!  He should, after all, he is representing the Storm. Gone are the Hawaiian shits. See, those cards, letters and emails do have an impact.
 
The real test comes next Thursday when the Storm travels to Phoenix. We were 5-12 on the road last year, and that sunk us for the playoffs as much as the injuries. The team has almost a week to prepare, and Phoenix should be a winnable game. This will give us a better perspective on how things look early on this season.
 
OK, I know we were all spoiled by having three games in one week, enjoy it while you can because we have only three Key Arena games in the entire month of June!  That totally sucks!  So you guys all better be there for our "home" game in Spokane.
 
I'm Shobe, that's the news, and I am outta here.

Submitted by | Wingardium

Damn, but we got us a ball team!!
 
Depth? Oh, yeah... AD's got a lot of different looks to throw at opponents this year.
 
Ball movement? Fwip... fwip... fwip... Our Girls were giving the Sporks whiplash the way they were zipping the ball around.
 
And defense?? Definitely the most improved part of the team. From forcing turnovers on the inbounds pass to forcing the shotclock to run out, we had LA stumbling over themselves.
 
Yeah... it's their first game. So what? We'll take it.
 
Notes off the Wing....
 
-- It was almost eerie how smoothly the score ran up. And up. And up.
 
-- Lookie lookie what we found in the dispersal draft!! Our Betty... we think we'll keep her.
 
-- Nice to see a little diversity in the food selection this year... of course, I haven't tried any of it yet. They've gotta go some to beat the sushi at Safeco... or the Ivar's.
 
-- I remarked to another fan that I couldn't see how the Sporks stayed under the salary cap with all the veteran players, and the guy mused that they must be paying their Italian players in lira. He might have something there....
 
-- What the hell did TSpork do to her HAIR?? I don't like it....
 
She came back out for the second half with her hair neatly braided. All the better to whip the Diva upside the head, methinks.  
 
-- After Thursday's win, I pondered that we've never been an undefeated team, even at 1-0. We've certainly never been 2-0. You can pick where you want to bite me, Ms. Meyers.  
 
-- My favorite moment, apart from the final score, came with about 7 minutes left in the game. There was a timeout, and we were up by over 20. Kamila was standing and looking up at the crowd going apedookie... and she had the sweetest, most bemused little half-grin on her face as she slowly shook her head in disbelief.  
 
As a Founding Fan who has seen her share of ug-gly things at the Key in years past, I say: I'm with ya, Kamila.  
 
Unbe-frikkin-lievable!!

Submitted by | StormFanNo1

I came to the arena 40 minutes before the game, but the t-shirts were already gone. I hope they sell those t-shirts later in the store, because the picture of LJ and Sue together in silhouette form is really cool.
 
Today, for the first time in 4+ years, I finally caught one of those presents dropped by the zeplin from above. It was a ticket for entry to private autograph session after the game. I saw a 10-11 year old girl standing in the aisle,  looking at me wondering about what I won. I just gave the ticket to her. She  was sooo happy! She started jumping up and down with joy when she read the ticket. That was worth the price of admission alone.  
 
The game was very much even during the first half. Betty started out fast, but got 3 fouls during the first 7 minutes, so had to sit out the rest of the first half. We traded baskets for a while. The Storm took a 5 pt. lead. Our starters were subbed after 10 minutes or so, and LA started a comeback. At one point LA took the lead while LJ, Sue and Betty were sitting on the bench. Our starters (except Betty) came back into the game last 5 minutes and took back the lead. We finished the first half up 4 points.
So far so good, but I had the early second half meltdown in the Minnn game in my mind and was hoping that there wouldn't be a defensive meltdown for us once again.

My worries were unfounded. There were no defensive lapses this time. We played good defense full 40 minutes. Other than a few bad passes to players not in position, there were no mistakes committed by our team.

The second half was when LA came unraveling and we started clicking on all cyclinders. Betty and Sheri started the offensive run, and everyone chipped in. A fast break from Betty, another from Sheri, then a three pt play from LJ and we were up by 13 points. The crowd was going crazy...  LA did not put up a fight. They didn't start a comeback. It was as if they had already conceded the game to us at that point, and there were still 14 minutes left in the game! We started subbing, but never let up on our defensive intensity. Our lead kept increasing, first to 20 points, and then to 30 pts. The crowd was going wild and crazy with Beat LA chants. About 7 minutes left before the end, we started subbing out our starters for good. First Kamila and Sheri, and then Betty, Sue followed, and LJ left the game 5 minutes before the end. Each and every one of them got a standing ovation from the crowd as they came out. Our bench played the last 5 minutes and kept he lead throughout the end.

The crowd started the "Beat LA" chant 1 minute left before the end. We knew we had already won the game at that point, but you can never get enough of beating LA.  
 
Betty made some impossible shots. She still took some wild and crazy shots, but this time they went in.
 
Sheri started a fast break every time she got a defensive rebound. She either completed it, or was fouled and went to the free throw line.
 
Adia is regaining her last season form. She looked faster on the court and had very smart defensive stops in the second half.  
 
Our stars LJ and Bird didn't have to work hard to win this game. Everyone contributed, everyone scored.
 
Tully as always was all over on the floor. She is also thinking of scoring this year, a change from last year. Fortunately she is nailing them.
 
Lisa's 20 points are meaningless. They kept her in the game all the way to the end, just to jack up her stats. She scored 8 of her 20 points in the last 5 minutes, when the subs were playing for the Storm.
 
Milton has a bigger knee brace than Adia. She is nowhere near old Milton that we have known. She is much slower and playing a lot more tentatively this year. She will be pretty much useless for LA and the olympics this year.
 
Greco made her debut and scored 4 pts from the free throw line. She was fouled on both occasions as she was slashing to the lane.
 
Janell is really really good. In a couple of years, I see her taking over the starting position from Kamila. I feel very comfortable when she is subbing for either Kamila or LJ.
 
This game has shown me that we finally have the mental edge over LA. We kept working very hard and never let up, even when we were 13, 20 points ahead. LA on the other hand simply gave up trying once our lead went up to 10+. They conceeded defeat early in the second half. They must hate coming to Key Arena to play. I believe they are developing a mental block when it comes to playing in Seattle.
 
We finally have debth! Last year we had 6 viable players, and ran into serious trouble when two of our starters were injured. This year we have 9 viable players and one or two injuries will not derail us (unless it is LJ). At this point coach AD is looking like a genius with all the personnel moves she made in the pre-seasaon.

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