Final score: Storm 66 – Silver Stars 53 (W) (7-4)

Submitted by LaurenRules

Anthem: Electric guitar rendition done Hendrix-style by nine-year-old Caspian Coberly. This kid has major talent.

This game should have been subtitled “The Invasion of the Cute Small People,” because there were tons of them – swarms of them – wearing brightly colored T-shirts, pounding Thunder Sticks and generally having a great time. Lots of empty seats – LOTS of them in the lower bowl and it certainly didn’t look like 10,000 people were there. It was nice to see the upper bowl opened.

Unfortunately for me, my usual seatmates were replaced by three adolescent girls who either were too shy or too supercilious to enjoy the game. They looked at me oddly, as if a solo beetle had taken residence beside them - I suppose it’s weird to go to a game alone, let alone spend time either cheering like a crazy person or frantically scribbling notes. Well, I had fun.

Injury report: Shanna Crossley didn’t travel with the team due to an injury to her left knee and Ashley Walker, who didn’t dress because she jammed her right big toe. Ow.

Karen Bryant and her daughter were walking around courtside – well, Karen was walking. Her little girl is seriously cute. Also, Dawn Trudeau had what looked to be her daughter and grandchildren with her. Governor Gregoire, and what looked to be her daughter and mother were in the house. Governor Gregoire has gotten very thin.

Intro: Decent rounds of applause for Ruth Riley and Becky Hammon, with a real roar going up for former Storm player Edwige Lawson-Wade. Nice that our noontime crowd remembered her, too. Storm opening video was, once again, FLAT. We need music we can clap to!

First Quarter
LJ outjumped Riley, giving Sue possession. Sue took it down for a jump shot, missed and Darling grabbed the rebound, only to have Johnson grab a three for them. Uneasy gasp. Fortunately, Tanisha brought her offensive chops with and scored on a jumpshot and a driving layup and we settled in. We traded points for much of the first quarter, with neither team looking terribly comfortable. We missed a few shots, but did a great job rebounding and then Swin found her offensive game, scoring five points in quick succession, causing SA to take a timeout (very nice “Go Green”message obviously directed at the kids. Lots of applause).

What was worrisome is that LJ was missing shots all over the place – San Antonio, led by Riley just swarmed her, but even when she got good looked, she was missing. Sue scored, putting us ahead 17-11 with 2:56 to go in the first quarter, but SA crept back in with a three from Snell and a driving layup from Hammon. 19-18 Storm.

Cute Doppler Musical Chairs skit. Guest mascots included Scorch from Phoenix, the San Antonio Fox (booo!), Blaze, from the Portland Trail Blazers and the Mariner Moose. Doppler won, but nearly lost his shorts in the process.

Second Quarter
Hammon came out shooting with a highlight-reel under-the-arm layup to give SA the lead, but Snell fouled Swin, who sunk both free throws in quick succession. Perperoglou (I wonder if she ever considered not changing her name?) turned the ball over, ending up sprawled at Agler’s feet and he, very nicely, helped her up. Katie, in off of the bench, scored on a driving layup, for her only two points of the game. Riley scored and then Snell sunk a three off of a missed jump shot by Tanisha, and San Antonio pulled ahead.

We trailed for the rest of the half, by as many as four and as few as one. Some seriously ugly basketball played by both sides – turnovers, missed shots and a MONSTER block by Lauren (well, that wasn't ugly), but then they forced a shot clock violation. San Antonio called a timeout to talk it over and it was time for the Fan Dance to Michael Jackson’s “Shake Your Body.” Scorch has some serious moves – was moonwalking all over the place and, I noticed, sported a Michael Jackson metallic glove. I also noticed that she (I think it’s a she) is definitely a Storm fan when Phoenix isn’t playing. Fan response to the Fan Dance was a bit tepid.

Sophia Young and Camille each battled it out with four points apiece down the stretch and with 3.3 seconds to go, an off-balance Sue heaved up a ridiculous three-point shot that somehow went in. 34-33 San Antonio. Cautious optimism prevailed - despite their one-point lead, we were playing without our MVP scoring, and how likely was that to continue? It was a little worrisome.

Halftime entertainment. Doppler opened his presents – a Mariner Umbrella from the Moose, Silly String from Scorch (oh, Scorch, really), a T-shirt launcher from Blaze, boxing gloves from the Fox and a wonderful new toy car from the team. Doppler was clearly having fun with that car, driving around and around in circles.

Third Quarter
Started out scoreless for what felt like forever – Ruth Riley picked up two more fouls, much to the delight of the Storm. Becky Hammon turned it over with a massive kickball, nicely fielded and snagged by Agler. At 6:22, Swin FINALLY scored on a free throw and we sat down to our great relief. Lauren sank the second of her free throws and scored on the next possession and a massive ovation ensued. I think that’s the longest I’ve ever seen her go without scoring in, well, ever. San Antonio called a timeout. Cute feature on the Storm Dance Troupe.

With Riley sitting, Lauren owned the boards. We completely shut them down defensively. T blanketed Hammon beautifully - I can see why she won awards for her defense when in college – and they did an awesome job of just uniting and defending as a team. We held San Antonio to SEVEN points in the third. The quarter ended with two odd fouls – one on Tanisha, the other on Young. Darling, however, missed one of her free throws, but Swin sank both of hers. 49-41 Storm.

Interval: Storm Dance Troupe. Doppler attacked a Silver Star fan with Silly String.

Fourth Quarter
Well, obviously Shannon J didn’t get the message that she is supposedly washed up, because she was everywhere this quarter – scoring, rebounding and winning a jump ball against Sophia Young, who is four inches taller and nine years younger than she is. (I notice that the roster rather improbably lists her as 6’11” – shouldn’t she be playing CENTER then? (Heee)).

Riley picked up her fifth foul fifty seconds in and they replaced her with Mattera, who is a BIG girl- but slow. Lauren out-rebounded her on her very first play, which warmed the cockles of my Storm-partisan heart.

With Shannon running the point, Sue picked up her scoring – had two picture-perfect jump shots in a row. Some seriously stupid foul calls this quarter, particularly by the male ref – Swin was stripped going up for a jumper, but, no call and then Sue was whistled on the very next play for – not sure what exactly. This didn’t offset the fact that our defense was AMAZING - they scored TWO field goals in the fourth quarter and sunk some free throws, while we were able to extend our lead as high as fifteen. Riley fouled out on what looked like a clean block to me (but given that she probably had about twelve fouls all up, I just couldn’t feel too sorry for her). We settled in to play tight, smart offense and just wore them down. Final Score: Storm 66 – Silver Stars 53.

Notes:
I really can’t say enough about our defense this game. At one point, an SA player was shooting (sorry, can’t remember who), and our three forwards just collapsed on her, she tried to shoot, missed and Swin had the rebound.

Whatever Agler is doing with their rebounds is working. We outrebounded them 41-17!!!

Really nice rotation with the guard positions, particularly with Shannon playing so well, but, once again, our posts sat. JB played about two minutes, A-Rob about thirty seconds and Suzy BB not at all. Not sure what that's about, although the smaller lineup worked fine.

T was an unsung hero this game – she didn’t let Hammon anywhere near her groove. Swin and Camille also played exceptional defense.

Sue had some incredible shots that should NOT have gone in, but fell anyway. I hope she gets POW before the season is over.

Even when Lauren has an off game offensively, she is a monster on defense. She stopped them cold in the paint and had five less rebounds than their entire team.

Nice that we can slug one out with everyone stepping up when LJ has an off day. On to Sacto.