Final score: Storm 69 – Silver Stars 74 (L) (7-4)

Submitted by Awase

First: NO PHOTOS. Seems you can't take a camera with a lens longer than three inches inside the At&t Center. I had the standard lens that came with my Sony A30, and I don't think it's quite three inches, but the ticket taker at the door said, "Nope, you can't take that in, that's a DOOZIE." So, no photos

FYI: If you plan to come to San Antonio for a game and want to sit behind the Storm bench, look for tickets in section 10. We were in section 6 and the only thing between me and the Stars players was a hot pack machine and a couple of gatorade coolers.

Jordan was here in his Storm Ball Kid outfit, working as a ball kid. Looked cute with all the San Antonio ball kids.

It was dads and daughters night, and the anthem was done by a dad and his two daughters. The daughters were ok, but dad should have stayed home. Standard Francis Scott Key version without any idol influences.

Sue's shot was falling in warm ups. At the time I thought that was a good thing. Seems it was a good thing for at least the first half of the game.

5:52 in the first, 12-5, we're playing good defense and our shots are hitting the mark for the most part. Yo drives the lane and falls, grabbing her ankle. The trainer, coach, Beck and KG came out to help her off the court but she managed to make it to the bench under her own power. She went to the locker room for awhile and wasn't back to the bench by the end of the first.

We ended the first up 21-14. We had a couple of defensive lapses since Shrya came in for Yo, they got it down to two and then we got our focus again.

We were shooting 44.4 % to their 33.3% and outrebounding them 12-6.

Second quarter 5:12. Sue's on fire, 17 points already and we have a 30-25 lead. LJ is having a tough time guarding Sophia Young. I can't figure out why Young gives LJ such fits, but she does. LJ looks frustrated on defense, and it's affecting her offensive game, she only has five points at this time.

We're sitting next to two twelve year old girls and everytime the crowd yells defense, we yell go storm to counter. Hopefully the team at knows they had some support in the arena tonight. The back and forth with the other fans is all good natured and the security guard standing in front of us hasn't told us to knock it off yet.

Yo's finally back on the bench, but looks like she's limping a bit.

Half 40-30 and we're shooting 47.2%

The Stars came out after half time and started lighting it up from three point land. We've lost a bit of our defensive focus, and our shooting is slipping a bit 43.2% now. 50-46 Storm at this point. At the last time out, the fox and foxy lady made their entrance as a "married" couple for their first dance. She was in a wedding gown and he was in a tux. They danced for a bit (ballroom, maybe a foxtrot ) and then broke out into some more contemporary moves before going back to the ballroom dance bit. Luckily, this was the only ballroom dancing we were subject to, unlike the other night in the Key, with the creepy stuff.

Clinging to a three point lead at the end of the third. We need to rebound and get defensive stops and be more efficient on offense. Hopefully we have 10 more minutes of gas in the tank for tonight. Yo has been back on the court, and is moving ok and grabbing rebounds. The rest of the offensive production looks like the old LJ and Sue show with minimal help from all the others. We're still out rebounding them 29-25 and shooting 43.5%.

7':34 left in the fourth. Nice Sue steal with a long outlet pass to LJ for a layup. We're up 60-56. Was that the spark we needed??

4:33 left in the fourth...guess not, it's 61-61. We can't buy a bucket and Yo can't get a free throw to drop. I'm guessing we missed enough free throws to offset the final 5 point differential. I haven't looked at the final stats yet.

35.8 seconds left, we're at the line. We need to make the free throw (check), make a stop (nope, LJ foul, two Young free throws make it 71-6, score (nope, 25.9 seconds, TO Seattle.

I think the final score was 74-69 after a couple more foul shots by them and a couple more misses by us. Scary moment of the night, Sue drove on Darlling and got up in the air and it looked like Darling undercut her. Sue fell on Darling and they both stayed on the ground for a bit. Darling got up limping and Sue got up holding her wrist. But she shook it off and made one of two free throws.

All the Sass fans around us were very nice, no bad blood from either group regardless of the score or game situation. Their fans don't get very vocal. Until they got the lead late in the fourth, the loudest cheering was for the t shirt toss.

Well, it's on to Houston tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have more positive things to report at the end of that game. And maybe I'll be able to take my camere into the arena this time.

Submitted by sbirdie10

Instead of my regular seats behind the bench I switched it up and sat 5 rows behind the basket in the section right next to the bench. Much closer to the court but difficult to analyze and see everything at one time. (I guess obviously) I didnt pay all that much attention to warmups because I was starving so I ate, and I couldnt see to the far end where we were warming up.

The game started off exactly how I wanted it to: Sue being aggressive from the start, hitting a 3, and then a layup. Very promising. Yo had a gorgeous pass to Swin right through defenders for a layup. A thing of beauty! Great start 12-5 and the SS call a timeout. O and thats when Yo went down. I seriously dont know how shes still playing on those knees. The first thing Sue said in the huddle was "Keep up the pace and intensity." To my delight, we did. Well, for a while. We were playing great D and rotating really well. But there were a couple of mismatches inside that led to SS easy layups. I was absolutely LOVING how aggressive Sue was being! And hitting shots! I had been wanting to see this for a loooong time. She had 12 pts in the 1st, almost as many as the entire SS team.
End of 1st: 21-14

At the beginning of the 2nd I realized exactly how skinny Swin is! I was really surprised. I thought she was more muscular in Detroit. Shyra and the rest of the bench were doing a great job on the floor. At this point, T was playing the 1 and Sue the 2. I honestly liked this a lot, especially since her shot was on. Sue going off screens creates a lot more opportunities for her to look for her shot and still create a pass to others. I gotta give major props to our defense in the 1st half. Reminded me of the Spurs in a way. Notice who Ive not mentioned so far? LJ. She was a nonfactor in the 1st half. She wasnt getting that many touches and when she did shoot, they unfortunately didnt fall. But Sue had a sweet little pass over her shoulder to LJ for a layup. Very nice.
End of 2nd: 40-30

Fantastic 1st half. Great intensity. My only question was if could we keep it up for the whole 2nd half. I sure hoped so.

Swoopes was looking like her old self with a great jump in the passing lane for a steal and then her signature stop and pop at the beginning of the 3rd. Notice another person Ive said almost nothing about? Swin. She was not being aggressive like the last time she was here and seemed kind of out of it to me. LJ finally got a foul called (against the person who was guarding her) and the look on her face was priceless. At this point in the game, the SS defense was picking up. Becky was left wide open and started hitting. Then the dreaded momentum shift I was hoping would not happen came true with 3 mins left in the 3rd, with them down by only 4. Out of the timeout the SS went to a zone and Sue hit her only field goal of the 2nd half, another 3. I thought that would stop the momentum. Totally wrong. Right back down the floor Darling hit a 3 to counter. I hate when the other team counters with a 3. The crowd was into the game now.
End of 3rd: 56-53

Right before Sue walked onto the court to start the 4th she turned around and told the bench "Be ready." They really needed to keep producing like earlier. I thought Young was quiet throughout the game but then started coming alive. Tie ballgame at 56 with 9 mins to go. I didnt think we were being as aggressive as we were in the 1st half and a little lid was on the basket. Sue didnt shoot much either. The fast break was really effective for us though. Yo was a spark but couldnt hit a free throw to save her life. So frustrating. Defensive breakdown became a lead change. Crap. Someone needed to step up and make plays. A kinda funny thing that happened was Yo fell, Becky held her hand out to help her up, and Yo ignored her and got up on her own. Becky laughed and shrugged, and the crowd booed Yo pretty bad. Reminded me of Shaq not using Tim Duncans help one time. () Tied again at 61 with 5 mins left. SS playing great D. We just couldnt finish down low at all. Either a block, a turnover, or a bad missed shot resulted. O and I really wanted Swin out becuase of how uneffective she was being. Which was bad for me because I picked her for the Pick One Challenge. We needed to settle down a bit, be more patient on offense, and have stops on defense to pull this one out. The game was incredibly intense with 2:30 to go. Swin hit 2 big FTs, the SS got a couple O boards, and VJ hit Swoopes with a sick crossover that led to a bucket. Then a no call on a Sue drive led to an easy layup by Becky. LJ had a huge And 1 to bring the lead down to 1 with 40 secs left. On the other end Young got bailed out by a foul on LJ with a second or two on the shot clock. Nooo! Down by 3 with 26 secs left. I SO wanted us to pull this one out! The collision between Sue and Darling scared the living daylights out of me! The basket was in my way so I only saw tangled feet sticking out and immediately moved to the side so I could see it all. Sue was still on the ground. It looked nastier than it was. I believe I saw Sue say it was her thumb but it looked like she hurt her whole hand/wrist. The 1st free throw hit every part of the rim and bounced out. Damn. The 2nd fell through but still down by I think 4 with 16 secs left. During the timeout I was thinking of some of the missed opportunites we should have capitalized on to reverse the outcome. LJ short on a 3, game over.
Sue and LJ were talking on the way to the tunnel with Sue shaking her head. I know how bad they wanted to win.
Final score: 69-74

*Sigh* The loss sucks. I really wanted a win and didnt like how we lost. But as always it was great seeing Sue, LJ, and the Storm in person again.