Final score: Storm 66 – Monarchs 55 (W) (8-4)

Submitted by LaurenRules

Officials: Clarke Stevens, Cameron Inouye (groan), and Eric Brewton.

Anthem: Operatic soprano, Theresa Lewis. She did well.

Attendance: 6,383 (what the heck?)

Injury Report: A-Walk is still out with her hurt toe and didn’t dress.

Introduction
It was sad to see so few fans there tonight, especially since we were on ESPN. Both teams were wearing short-sleeved warm-up shirts with some sort of design on them that probably is supposed to represent recycling. A huge ESPN banner stretched across the east side of the arena with the anchors jawing away. They removed it at the beginning of the game and almost dropped it more than once.

It was “Go Green” night, so we were treated to several conservation-type messages on the Jumbotron throughout the game, from Ashley Walker, Ashley Robinson, Shannon and Lauren. Very nice.

The player intros were in the ESPN-shortened format, and, also, Doppler wasn’t there, because he and his “assistant” were biking in. More on that later. The music synchronization was way improved tonight, and we were able to clap along with the beat. Oh, and Agler actually smiled – painfully – at the camera when he was introduced tonight. Someone needs to teach him how to wave.

First Quarter
Not sure what happened on the jump ball, because Lauren has two inches on Brunson, but Powell grabbed it, and, twenty seconds later, Nicole Powell scored. Camille turned the ball over on a bad pass which Penicheiro grabbed, and a wave of unease traveled through the standing crowd. De’Mya Walker missed her shot and Swin grabbed the rebound, but for the next few minutes (it seemed longer), it was a Seattle miss-a-thon, with Sue and Swin each missing a shot and Swin turning the ball over.

Fortunately, the same lid that was on our basket was on Sacramento’s, too – Brunson has a missed shot and a turnover and Penecheiro missed a shot as well. Tisha doesn’t look like the dominant figure of old. She does an okay job running their offense, but it was like some vital spark was missing.

Sue sent a nice pass to Camille, who sunk a three and we erupted into happy bedlam, thankfully getting to sit down at 7:22. Shannon picked Nicole Powell’s pocket, fired it to Tanisha, who fed it to Swin for a nice layup. The T-Swin connection was particularly tight tonight and a pleasure to see. Walker fouled her on the layup and Swin made the “and one.” 6-2 Storm at 6:51 (when it had been 0-2 Sacto at 7:23).

Lauren didn’t quite seem her normal self, but made a sweet layup on a feed from Sue after Powell missed a shot and the arena went CRAZY. On the very next play, TANISHA blocked Powell, Swin grabbed the rebound, and Lawson fouled her as she drove to the basket. Swin sank both free throws. The next play, it was Lauren’s turn to block, but Sacramento was scrappy, Brunson stealing it from Sue and sinking her shot. Sue looked visibly annoyed. T definitely stepped her game, feeding Swin for her second assist of the quarter and sinking a jumper herself. Official timeout with 4:26 to go. Cute number by the Storm Dance Troupe. 14-6, Storm.

JB finally came in and got some quality minutes, drawing a foul from Harper and sinking both free throws. Sacramento seemed to revert to their “if we can’t score, we’ll foul,” game plan, because Swin was fouled about two seconds later, and there were several others that just weren’t called.

Both Scholanda Robinson and Courtney Paris scored. With 1:41 to go, Shannon tried to shoot and got STUFFED by Courtney Paris. She was impressive tonight. She still needs to get in better shape, but she has a real knack for finding the ball, and, at least twice, beat Janell on the baseline, not to mention winning a jump ball off of her. Katie came in and grabbed a rebound after Walker missed her shot. Camille picked up a foul and Janell missed her jump shot. 18-12 Storm.

Sacramento’s offense looked painful out there. Jenny Boo couldn’t seem to figure out her best lineup – it seemed as though there was a constant stream of white-clad Sacramento players popping in and out of the game. It was also weird to see strange players in WHITE uniforms on our floor. It took me a few minutes to realize I was supposed to root for the players in the colored uniforms.

Interval: Cute video number on Doppler and his assistant “going green” on their tandem bike. Who knew you had to go through Greenlake to get from Mountlake to Queen Anne? I think Doppler was cheating, letting his assistant do much of the work. They rode into the arena and around in circles.

Second Quarter
Sacramento seemed to stick with their plan of fouling: Scholanda Robinson came very close to putting Shannon’s eye out about a millesecond into the second half and Walker fouled Lauren ten seconds later. Sadly, Lauren missed her initial layup, and one of her free throws. Powell hit a three, bringing Sacramento within four, but Katie calmly turned around a nailed a three of her own and stole the ball from Penicheiro, not the easiest thing to do. Camille turned the ball over, but we defended well, and when Lauren sunk her own three, we went happily berserk.

That was the start of a happy little 12-0 scoring run and played stifling defense, not allowing Sacramento another point until Janell fouled Brunson with 4:50 to go and she sank one of her shots. Swin made an AMAZING defensive rebound, as four Sacramento players converged onto her, but she held on. Maiga-Ba finally made a layup with 3:07 to go, but Swin retaliated with a jumper and an “and one,” as Lawson fouled her. 34-18 Storm. They crept within eight, with buckets from Lawson and Robinson and made free throws from Paris, thanks to a STUPID call on Camille from Cameron Inoue. Janell sunk two more free throws and Lauren stole the ball and fed it to T, who scored on a layup. With one second to go, Paris scored on a layup for them to close out the half. Grrr. 38-28 Storm.

In addition to Janell playing really well, Katie had a very solid quarter – rebounding, stealing and, of course, sinking that monster three. She had a lot of confidence tonight. Sue, however, hardly got to sit down at all.

During a timeout, the All-Decade Team was announced: Adia, Tully, Sue, Janell, Swin, Izi, Simone, Lauren, Betty, and Kamila. I would’ve put Sheri Sam or even Wendy Palmer in front of Izi, frankly. It was great to see footage of our inactive players. Lots of nice applause.

Halftime Entertainment – a three-legged race to gather up recycling materials. The all-female team seemed to have a better system for walking, because they won handily. Shelley, the radio announcer has a piercing voice that is sometimes painful to listen to.

Doppler tried to sink shots from the other team’s free throw line – hit the rim once – then just tried to hit a layup, but missed that, too – and gave up in disgust. Better luck next time, furry red dude.

Third Quarter
The first thirty or so seconds was marred by the idiots with the ESPN banner moving it out during game play. It was a horrible distraction, but, fortunately, the players just ignored it. Camille scored right away on a nice layup with an assist from Tanisha, so we all got to sit down. Unfortunately, Camille then turned the ball over AND fouled Penicheiro after Tisha made her shot.

The officials once again demonstrated their ineffectiveness, as they had a protracted debate after a ball went out of bounds, first setting the shot clock at 24, then at 5, then at 19, to the annoyed boos of the Storm audience. The Storm music person was hilarious, though, because while this was going on, “Final Jeopardy” music went on. Ah, the snark.

Game play finally started again – Powell missed a layup which was grabbed by none other than our favorite point guard. She fed Lauren who sunk a MONSTER three. 45-31 Storm with 6:45 to go. Scholanda Robinson sunk a jump shot, and Sue calmly sunk one of her own. A dry spell with lots of missed shots and non-shooting fouls, featuring a huge rebound from Camille – I think that’s the highest I’ve ever seen her jump. T got things going again with a rebound and assist to Swin who scored twice, the second time on an assist from Sue.

The snarky musical engineer surfaced again during an ESPN timeout, playing, “I’m ready to go right now.” Very funny. Janell scored, Lawson scored and it was Sacramento ball. Sue ERUPTED off of the bench, holding up eight fingers, and, sure enough, Sacto was whistled for an eight-second violation. In the very far-off, way-distant future, some lucky, lucky team is going to get her as a coach. Yet another inexplicable delay occurred as the refs conferred about something. This time, we were treated to “Peanuts” music.

Camille picked her fourth foul and Suzy BB came in with about a minute to go. S-Robinson sunk both free throws. With Suzy on the floor, it was fascinating watching the passing change – she and Lauren can really pass over most peoples’ heads. Katie scored on a jump shot and that was it for the quarter. 57-29 Storm.

Interval: A free throw (billed as a “three point”) competition between a couple named Alex and Alix. Alix won 3-1. She got an autographed Swin Cash basketball.

Doppler attacked some Sacramento fans with his birthday present Silly String. IIRC, one of the Sacremento players grew up here (Crystal Kelly?), so she has a lot of fans.

Fourth Quarter
The quarter opened with Lauren blocking S-Robinson’s shot and Suzy winning a jump ball against her. Lauren got whistled on a STUPID loose ball foul – if anyone committed the foul, it was Suzy – but headed to the bench, since it was her fifth. Powell scored, but then it was a sloppy, ugly scramble-a-thon for several minutes – but one with really, really good, tough defense.

At 5:54, T scored on a jump shot. Janell out-jumped Paris on yet another jump ball, but got whistled on a STUPID traveling call that should have been a foul.
Newton and Lawson both scored, Lawson with a three, to cut our lead to thirteen, but then the Tanisha-Swin duo kicked in, followed by a three from Sue, on yet another assist from T. Sacramento seemed to visibly wilt at that point, although they scrapped until the end. Agler started bringing the bench in – A-Rob finally got to play! – and they scored eight points to our two. Final Score: 66-55 Storm.

Notes:
Others have mentioned Sue’s blindingly yellow Livestrong shoes. They were very bright. And very yellow.

Sheri Sam was in the house and got a nice ovation. I’m bummed she didn’t make the All-Decade team.

A-Rob had a nice block in the fourth that was whistled as a “foul.” Our team didn’t really seem as affected by the stupid ref calls. Nice to see.

Someone screwed up on the scoreboards – they were still reflecting San Antonio players’ names during the first half. Who knew Becky Hammon played for Sacramento?

LJ still doesn’t look quite herself, but definitely played better today.

Poor Sue got stuck jumping against Laura Harper at one point. She didn’t win. Harper should be nominated for an Academy Award, though. She did a very artistic flop against LJ when Lauren came back in during the fourth quarter. Fortunately, the refs didn’t buy it.

Our offense could use a little more coherency and crispness. Also, I hope Shannon is doing okay, because Sue was on the floor for a ton of minutes.

Nice interview with yet another Alex, Alex Chambers, a Phoenix Mercury fan, who is visiting home games for each WNBA team, in honor of a friend of his who died of breast cancer. Class act, Alex.

Jenny Boo definitely has it over Brian Agler when it comes to style. She was elegant in black and white, although I think that's too severe for her coloring. Brian was in his ubiquitous beige suite with an, um, "odd" tie. Well, she can win on style, if he keeps winning GAMES!

On to Sunday.