Final score: Storm 84 – Comets 71 (W) (5-4)

Submitted by Norwester

I'm trying to get inspired to write about this game, and I find that I'm really not. It should have been a win. It wasn't a pretty one, but an ugly win is much better than an ugly loss, so ultimately I'm happy, but it wasn't very fun to watch, at least for me...overall. There were certainly moments, but our offense didn't seem to be clicking, and a lot of our scoring came off of broken plays where we scrapped to get a rebound or loose ball (often dropped initially by one of our players) and scored off second-chance opportunities, or some sort of one-on-one action. Sue's best assist of the night may have been wiping food off of Janell's shoe after a side-line play for the ball had her stepping full on in someone's meal. Naturally, it was great to see our players putting forth the kind of additional effort that got us to the free throw line and put points on the board, but I had to question our efficacy repeatedly when I'd look at the scoreboard and see that Houston was only down by 5 or so.

I really have to hand it to Houston. They were in there going after everything they could. It was clear that there was inexperience, but it became customary to see the ball ricochet off of two or three white jerseys and end up in the hands of a red jersey. I was impressed with the hustle of the Comets. Even down, they didn't give up. I'm not sure quite what is missing for them; we clearly outmatched them and I kept being confused when I'd look up and we still hadn't put the game away. The Comets were staying in it through sheer cussedness. It wasn't until the end of the third quarter that the fans were really driven to give any sort of loud, spontaneous, appreciate applause as our players approached the bench.

So, a happy win if not a great win. Lauren had a very quiet 30 points. You just didn't feel like she was dominating like we're used to down low, but she posted up a few times and scored on over half. The rest of her points came from putting back offensive rebounds, the free throw line, and a couple of threes she calmly sank, including one towards the end to give her points 28-30 that had her laughing, because she'd just hit one some time before, and this play was so broken there wasn't much else for her to do with it. Betty also strung together a quiet but better game. She probably scored most of her points from the free throw line, but she showed some vintage Betty moves (winning the All-State Good Hands Play for a juking drive through the lane that she flipped in), had some good passes, including a couple of great ones to Sue, and really wasn't forcing it. I haven't been as quick to get down on her this season because she's controlling it on the court for the most part, and she did have some forehead-slapping turnovers tonight. She seemed a lot better and hopefully this game helps her confidence.

Wendy was good. Izi had some great moves to the basket and outside shots. Janell showed some good moves as well. Ashley got a bit of playing time, mostly when Lauren was out there as a 3. Katie did some good things with rebounds and passes, but she needs to stop getting beat along the baseline. It's funny sitting in the Arena because every time she gets the ball in scoring position it's like everyone says her name. You can hear, "Katie!" Or the often popular, "Shoot!" She's coming along, though. And I was again impressed with Sue Bird's effort. Stats or not, she changes the game's dynamic out there, and I'm particularly enjoying watching her play defense this year.

Pre-game shoot around did not seem full of light-heartedness. I guess the players were just very focused. I wondered if Lauren was wishing that all her teammates spoke Korean and she couldn't understand them and could avoid the drama. There were quite a few #11 Barbara Turner Storm jerseys in the stands, and Barbara got the lion's share of cheering for Houston players (Tina Thompson received a little bit of the tail end of her reception) and probably got more straight-up cheering than many of the Storm players, though back-ground music and beat-clapping naturally enhance any crowd non-reaction to the lesser-known Benchies on the Storm.

Some long-serving female police officers were honored for their service mid-court with Sue-Bird-signed mini-balls handed to them by Karen Bryant. Then a couple of other officers sang a national anthem duet that had its moments, but ended up sounding like it was in a minor key, likely intentionally, but it was still an odd rendition. Jessie Kenlaw got some applause (returning as an Assistant Coach with Houston), Byears got some boos (and was pretty consistently heckled by 113 all night, driving her into flipping them off), and Michelle Snow got mixed cheers and boos.

For the second game in a row the shot clock didn't start properly on the tip, so the crowd it all het up, and they have to immediately stop play and reset it, then resume. JB went to the line right away off of a pretty drive through the lane on what could have been a clean block if not for the follow-through across the arm. This was followed immediately by a Sue rebound ahead to Betty Lennox for a 3. Then Janell managed to grab a pass at her ankles and put it back up for an &1. None of these (except perhaps the first play) scoring opportunities came as planned, but we were really battling with second efforts and JB was a foul magnet in a good way (drawing fouls). A couple of minutes after this JB tipped a Houston ball out of bounds, and the struggle to accomplish that had her on the sidelines, where she stepped in the meal of a courtside fan. Whoops! A timeout was called as JB yelled for a towel, and Sue ran it over, bracing herself on the court with one hand so she could get down and make sure the bottom of Janell's shoe was thoroughly wiped. The crowd loved it.

The rest of the quarter kind of wound down with Houston hanging right in there despite it feeling like we were out-playing them. Highlights included LJ getting called for a T for brushing Maiga off her back after a successful bucket, which she had definite words about (during the ensuing Tina Thompson technical free throw) that I can't repeat here, but that you can probably imagine. They sure are handing out Ts like candy this year. Barb picked one up towards the end of the game that was a mystery to me. I guess the other highlight was Sue Bird getting a blocked shot! It was great, and she got a lot of love from the crowd for it, but there wasn't much else to get excited about as the Comets would answer most of our good moves with fairly easy baskets of their own. Maiga was particularly effective. 1Q: 25-23. Anemic applause as the period ended.

Ashely, Wendy, LJ (at small forward), Katie and Tanisha running point started the second. Not much was going on until Lauren thundered in for an offensive rebound that she put back up and in, then blocked at the other end leading to a Lauren Jackson 3-pointer. Still, she is clearly rather ill-sure as a small forward still. There was a lot of pointing and yelling out on the floor. Though that may also have to do with T running the point. Who can say?

Our defense softened up a bit, and our shots stopped falling, and Houston was right there in the thick of things. Out of a timeout that had everyone finally entertained at something--that something being the Dads and Daughters fan-dancing up on the Arena Vision (though I couldn't help but feel kind of sad for any daughters in the stands without dads for being left out)--Sue and Betty came in. LJ was subbed out, and did not seem very happy about it, brushing by AD to get to her seat without really even acknowledging Coach as more than an obstacle. They seemed to be communicating fine later, though. Betty showed some great moves in the stretch, including the vintage one that got her the All-State Good Hands thing. With our shots not falling it was really only our second efforts keeping us in the game at all, but individually our players got the best of several one-on-one match-ups to drive into the paint and make something happen, mostly from Betty and Izi during this stretch. HT: 45-40, Storm We out-rebounded the Comets by a large amount, and our free throws were much more numerous, and it just seemed that we should be ahead by more than five.

Izi came out of the locker room a couple minutes before anyone else on the Storm, but eventually our very serious, focused team emerged to warm up. Not much smiling, but LJ called everyone together, said some stuff, Sue said some stuff, and the half was under way. Sue just missed on a pass from Betty, but LJ got the rebound and put it back up and in, then led a fast break to Sue (who scored) and suddenly we were up 49-40. Crazy play chock full of whistles later, and Houston was in the penalty with 8 minutes to go! It didn't always go the Storm's way, but there were plenty of suspect calls. We kept almost pulling away, and Houston would refuse to die. The crowd just basically sat there and waited for something to happen that could be cheered about. Then LJ went down hard with 4 minutes left, but managed to stagger to the line for 1/2 free throws. She was pulled to be checked out, but much discombobulation ensued with our players putting forth a lot of effort, but not managing to be able to hang onto the (apparently greased) ball. Frustrating. LJ went right back in. Betty got totally bailed out with a foul call that was so bad I could only laugh. With 13 seconds left in the quarter Snow was called for an offensive foul after we held them to nothing with only 1 second left on the shot clock. It got LOUD at this point, which was also when Barbara was called for her mystery T. Perhaps someone else saw why it was assessed. But whatever. LJ made the technical free throw, we tried to play for the last shot but Betty turned it over then we were redeemed by playing some great defense on Houston such that they couldn't even get a shot off to end the quarter. 3Q: 63-54, Storm. Genuine applause.

Starters in. LJ forces a jump, then hits a 3. Halfway through the quarter we're up 71-59. Betty subs out to cheers; the crowd was really behind her to find her way, and she seems to be getting there. LJ hit a three that finally made it feel like we were putting the Comets away for good with 4 minutes to go, and again the place got LOUD. Sue scored also somewhere around here, for which everyone is always extra happy, it seems. The fans love Sue to shoot the ball. Then LJ casually turned on an awkward play and threw another 3 up, surprised and laughing when it went in too.

With 2 minutes remaining we called a time out and clearly this was the starters leaving the floor. Cheering, applause. 81-65 when the bench enters the game. The PA guy exhorts everyone to get to their feet, but small things like a Barbara Turner &1 disrupted our cheering-the-game-to-closing momentum. Then two poor offensive possessions, and half the Arena sat back down until less than a minute remained, then the PA guy got us back up. Sue seemed somewhat hobbled by the end of the game, and didn't stick around to throw shirts, but went pretty much straight to the locker room. Be well, Sue.

Alan Horton interviewed Betty Lennox, who scored 18. She says it's been tough for the team lately, but that the fans make playing in the Key really special, and says they love us for our support. She acknowledged that the game was "not pretty" but that we won. In preparation, the Storm weren't so much worried about Houston as about what they would do. Betty thanked the fans for being behind her during her slump, and said the team just wanted to come out tonight and be more aggressive, get to the free throw line (which was very successful for Betty tonight), and says that they knew they could do it with the fans behind them. P.S. LJ is a great teammate and leader here in Seattle.

Run-off

Lauren was wearing her yellow shoes and a messy bun.

Sue's hair was still curly.

Shelley Patterson was in an interesting ensemble of red suit and blue blouse. Wearing red when we're playing Houston? To round out our coaches Anne was in gray suit/black blouse, and Heidi was in a beige-ish tunic with black slacks.

All the concessions were open.

I was quite entertained by the sign that spelled out SEATTLE down the poster with the name of a bench player across each of the letters like so: Shyra WEndy TAnisha KaTie Tye'sha AshLey BEnch

Pre-game entertainment consisted of The Popcorns, performing a jump rope routine. The cutest part I thought was when they then formed a gauntlet for the players to run through when emerging from the tunnel. They were very enthusiastic, and the staff kept having to tell them to move further apart.

It was Dads and Daughters night at the Key, for which many Dads/Daughters events were held during time-outs and such. Ray Allen, Deion Branch and Matt Hasselbeck were all introduced to cheers, and were all there with their lovely families. It was fun. Ray and his daughter threw shirts to the crowd at one point. Dad's and Daughters squared off in a basketball skills challenge that had Katie Gearlds dad participating. They did "Movie Magic" during one timeout, which featured A-Rob's face superimposed over Harrison Ford's head saying, "Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?" The Dad/Daughter contestants seemed hesitant on the movie title, but finally got "Raiders of the Lost Ark" after much prompting from the fans.

StormVision with Sabrina featured an interview with Betty Lennox (who, yes, did refer to herself in the third person ). Subjects covered: she's been known lately as an offensive player, but throughout her career she was actually known for playing defense, so she's focusing on that a bit more because defense wins games. On recent frustrations this team is just focusing on avoiding the bitter taste they've had in their mouths the last two seasons, but specifically two years ago, and they feel faith in their team; sure it's been up and down lately, but they feel that there are more ups than downs, because they all know each other, understand how competitive they each are. They haven't accomplished their goals the past couple of years and they want that to end.

Alan & Adia Pre-Game Breakdown: Storm generally play well at home, 44-9 run last time Houston was in town, last year record was 9-8 in the Key, but defending home is important in a play-off team especially. Houston is struggling with an inexperienced back-court. Barbara Turner on Houston. Important in WNBA to have a strong/deep bench, as we saw with San Antonio, or see with Sacramento. Whether they score a bunch of points or not, they have to be able to hold the line when they're in.

Tia Jackson was introduced during the second quarter to big cheers...I think she may have out-drawn Ray, Deion and Matt with the volume of her welcome.

Wendy's pig-tails were back in the 2nd half.

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