Final score: Storm 77 – Monarchs 71 (W) (17-9)

Attendance | 8651

Anthem Watch | Little girl with a big voice and a tendency to overwork long notes.

Fan Psyche | This one was a rollercoaster.

Game Highlight | Some pretty drive and dishes during the third quarter.

Halftime | Dance team kids.

SF.O Keyword of the Game | Focus.

Game Photos |

The Storm was all over the place tonight — playing great defense and hitting their shots one quarter and then committing turnover after turnover and letting the Monarchs fly past them. Luckily, the highs tonight allowed the Storm to outlast their lows and secure the win.

As Sue said in her postgame interview, a W is a W regardless of how many points were scored.

The Storm seemed determined to make the game more dramatic than it needed to be.

The first half was fairly evenly played between the two teams. The Storm came out hot with Sue leading the way big time, but the Monarchs were able to go on little runs of 4 or 6 to keep the game close and not let the Storm get out to more than a single digit lead at any time. During the second quarter, the Storm were able to eke out a 9 point lead based on some great defense and rebounding only to see the Monarchs fight back to within one.

Katie came in for the last possession and hit a monster three to end the half. It was a quick shot, but one that she tends to hit. It seems that the less time she has to think about her shot, the better she is. When she's open and standing there it can be iffy. When she's flying around the three-point line coming off screens and can just catch and shoot, she's a lot more lethal. Tonight she got that catch and shoot and was able to give the Storm a boost going into the locker room, a boost that they capitalized upon once the third quarter started.

The third quarter was a think of Storm defense beauty. With two shock clock violations, offensive rebounds and forced turnovers, the Storm were able to put together a 10-0 run that blew the game open. The great thing about the Storm's effort during this quarter was that all of the players on the court brought the same level of defensive intensity to the game. All of them were scrapping for rebounds, forcing steals or bad passes and generally finding ways to stymie the Monarchs. Players were hitting their spots coming to help on interior defense or coming across the lane to stop weak side ball movement. They were switching off of screens and, regardless of position, aggressively picking up the Monarchs' players. Katie, for a short time, found herself again defending one of the opponents bigs. Instead of getting burned, she and the help defense behind her were able to force turnovers or at least bad shots. By the end of the third, the Storm were sitting on an 18-point lead and looking like they were going to really roll the Monarchs.

Well, that didn't last.

The rebounding dried up. The shots stopped falling and the Monarchs got their fastbreak going. Fouls piled up quickly. The Storm got sloppy with the ball — several players bounced it off their knee or foot, or just passed it directly to Monarchs players. The Monarchs turned all of that into a 17-2 run that cut the lead down to 3 with just two minutes to play.

Sue was finally able to drive the ball and force the Monarchs to start fouling. From there on out, it was a foul fest. The Storm hit all of theirs, the Monarchs didn't.

In the end, the Storm were able to outlast the Monarchs and squeak out the win.

The result is that through the dark LJ-less times, the Storm pulled out a 3-2 record and maintained their second place position not only in the Western conference but overall in the league. We're still only a half game out of first AND we have the best home record in the league at 13-1. The Storm were also able to win a couple big road games to make their overall road record a little more respectable — let's face it, no one has a good road record this year and at least ours isn't the worst one any longer.

The Storm are in great position going into the break. Our hobbling veterans will be able to rest up for the final 7 games. Our streaky players will be able to collect themselves and hopefully work out some of the kinks from their game. Our coaches will be able to examine what's worked and what hasn't and make some adjustments to get us through the end of the season.

That last part is the big one for the break, I think. So far, Coach Agler has shown an ability to accurately analyze the team's progress and make changes that produce positive results. Examples include signing Camille Little, his changes to the line-up sans LJ and Tanisha's growth and production. I am expecting something similar to come out of the next month that will bolster the team's performance for the end of the season. Maybe he makes another personnel move, maybe he just finds a way to get more out of the players we already have. Whatever it is, I'm confident that he's going to make the right move.

Other notes:

Today was Coach Agler's birthday and apparently the team didn't know. Dick Fain told Sue during the postgame interview and she ran off to the locker room to tell the team.

As good as Tanisha played at times tonight, she had flashes of her old self during the fourth quarter. Coach Agler yelled at her at one point to "get into the game." She also got called for a loose ball foul late in the quarter that was obviously an over the back committed by the Monarchs' player. The Monarch player almost jumped over T from behind — there was no real foul by T other than standing her ground as the other player went up. It looked like T was undercutting the other player, but it was the Monarchs' forward momentum that did the trick. Anyway, T got the foul and got hot. Sue had to chase her down and yell at her to relax.

A group of Virginia Mason doctors and breast cancer survivors were introduced before the game.

Fonzie, the ref Kurt Walker, looks like he's lost a little weight.