Final score: Storm 81 – Sky 86 (L) (8-5)

Submitted by LaurenRules

Officials: Kurt Walker (NOOOOO!!!!!!), Byron Jarrett, and Tony Dawkins

Attendance: 6,796 (even lower than the other day. Wince. The empty seats were noticeable).

Injury Report: Ashley Walker was still out with a sprained big toe. Sylvia Fowles had a sore knee, but still played, worse luck for us.

Anthem: American Idol wannabe Bryon Watson (more “wanna” than “be” to my way of thinking. At least it was short).

Introduction
The Chicago Sky definitely lived up to their name with two players above six six – Sylvia Fowles and Chen Nan of China. There was a decent amount of red the audience for “Go Red” Night, with the focus on women’s heart disease (which apparently does not get enough of a focus). What was missing were the people – LOTS of empty seats and no real conflicts that I could think of.

The Storm were wearing red short-sleeved warm-ups in honor of “Go Red” night, and Sue’s shoes were back to normal. Darn. I kind of enjoyed seeing those flashing neon yellow sneakers dart around the court like latter-day Hermes' sandals. Agler’s back in dark blue with a red tie (how apropos) and the Chicago coach, Steve Key (NOT Toy, thanks for the correction, TacoMan!) is in the deconstructed look, with a powder-blue sweater under his blazer.

Decent rounds of applause for Chicago, with an especial warm welcome for Shyra. Intro music was “Beat It” – a much better clapping choice. The crowd was small, but VERY loud.

First Quarter
Fowles won the tip and it went to Wyckoff. Lauren was IMMEDIATELY whistled for a foul, followed by Camille, and I thought, “It’s going to be a long night,” especially since my BFF Kurt Walker (NOT!) was there. Canty made a single free throw, Swin was whistled for a foul (see above comment on long night), Fowles turned it over on a three second violation and Lauren made an extremely pretty layup and Wyckhoff was whistled for a foul. Everyone happily sat down, but Lauren missed her free throw – and the same thing happened about forty seconds later, except Fowles fouled (okay, I couldn’t resist).

Canty and Swin exchanged driving layups, and Lauren made a very pretty steal off of Fowles. Swin drove to the basket, but Canty fouled her and Swin sank both free throws.

Wyckhoff scored and Lauren sank a three, much to our delight, but then Dupree scored twice – she is VERY quick. Canty fouled T, who sank both of her free throws, and in came Kristi Toliver, much to our eventual dismay. Perkins scored on a jump shot and Dupree scored twice more. 16-13 Chicago with 45.6 to go. Once again, T sank four free throws in a row off of fouls from Toliver and Thorn, but we got sloppy in the last second, allowing Toliver to land a three with 0.2 to go. Wince. 19-17 Chicago.

Interval: A day in the life of Swin Cash video. Kind of cute with an extra nice tribute to our fans.

Second Quarter
Chen Nan came in and immediately started causing trouble for the Storm, scoring right away. She only had four points, but was hard to defend. She seemed to get out of breath rather easily, but is a tough, very physical player. I have a feeling that the WNBA is really going to raise her game. Katie missed a three, but Lauren picked Price’s pocket and fed it to Shannon who made a running jump shot. Camille scored and converted on a foul from Fowles, Nan scored, Swin scored and Toliver scored twice (a three and a deuce). Chicago up by five.

Tanisha turned the ball over (wince!), but Toliver had a rare miss and JB grabbed the rebound. As if to atone for her turnover, T scored on a running layup. Then it was the battle of the 3s – Toliver, Sue and Thorn each hit one in quick succession, with Dupree saving hers until a little later. Chicago up by eight. Lauren hit her own trey, Toliver hit yet another one, and then Swin sank a two. After a slow start in scoring for both teams, this was turning into a scorefest and the Battle of the Longshots – which, unfortunately for us, they were winning.

At this point, T seemed to find an unexpected reservoir of energy, because she had assists on our next three shots. Janell scored on a nice layup and Key called a timeout. I really think our announcer needs to cool it with the taunting, “Chicago needs a timeout!” sort of thing, because they usually found their game afterwards.

Our mischievous music person was back, because they played Men At Work’s “Land Down Under” while two Aussies – former Storm Assistant Coach Carrie Graf sitting with fellow Aussie and Mariner Ryan Rowland Smith. Swin scored twice (T had both assists), and, suddenly and rather improbably, we were tied. T fouled Canty on some quite, um, “aggressive defense,” but Canty missed both of her free throws. Katie missed the final shot of the quarter. 42-42 at the half.

This was a frustrating quarter, because we’d start to get some momentum, and one of their guards, usually Toliver, would sink an incredible three, and all of the air would go out of the arena. Also, Sue was having a hard time finding her shot, and, for matter, so was Lauren, but Lauren was making some great shots, too.

If I’d been coaching, I’d have given some serious thought to bringing Batgirl in have her “accidentally” knock Tolliver over or something, to slow her down. Okay, mostly kidding, but it was painful. Rookies should have their breakout games against other teams. The sad thing was, if I didn’t care about the outcome (like if Chicago had been playing Atlanta or something), I would have been agog in admiration.

Halftime Entertainment: A three-point shooting contest between two groups of fans, one group representing Seattle, the other representing Tacoma. The Tacoma girl who was shooting threes was incredible, sank eleven in forty-five seconds. Shellie Hart still has the most annoying voice.

It’s worth noting that they had 59% shot percentage, compared to our 48%, and they shot 6-10 from beyond the arc. So, it wasn’t that we were playing terribly, they were just playing better.

Third Quarter
Lauren immediately scored on a jumper with an assist from T. Dupree shot and missed (yay!) and T scored on a step back jump shot. Her play was more than just the stat line reflects – she seemed to have an instinctive feel for the ball and psyching out their players. 46-42 Storm. Wyckhoff scored. Sue missed a three and Dupree grabbed the rebound, and went to shoot, but Lauren blocked her very nicely and fed it to Swin missed a three of her own (why was Swin shooting a three?). Dupree grabbed the rebound, but Lauren picked her pocket in a really nice steal, and Dupree committed a frustration foul a few seconds later. That’s how it’s supposed to work. We called timeout, Swin missed again and T put a layup as the shot clock expired. No good.

Dupree scored on the very next possession, Perkins fouled someone and Steve Key was LIVID. Camille scored, but was whistled for her fourth “foul.” Toliver came back in and we all cringed. Dupree scored again, and Camille scored right back at her. She was SO not playing like she had four fouls. Big Syl scored – she has incredible physicality, which I admire, as long as they’re not playing us. Sue missed an easy jumper – it wasn’t her night – and committed a frustration foul four seconds later – and Coach sat her right away.

We held them scoreless for about a minute and a half, but then Toliver got into the act with another three, assisted by former Storm player, Shyra Ely. [Some people actually CLAPPED for Ely when she came in. I don’t get it. Don’t they realize she is part of The Enemy and must be stopped?]

Fowles hammered Janell, who sank both free throws. She played VERY well tonight. I mean VERY. Toliver actually MISSED A SHOT! – it was a jump shot and T was in her face, so that probably explained it. Janell grabbed the rebound. Camille fed Katie for a three and Seattle was back on top! Massive celebrations. Camille (with her four fouls) stole the ball from Perkins and fed Janell for two more points. More crowd hysteria. Not for long. Perkins scored. Camille scored back. Toliver fouled Janell, who, again, nailed her free throws. I don’t remember her being this good from the line. Camille picked up her fifth “foul” on Dupree who sunk both shots. Lauren got whistled for a similarly stupid call, but Ely only sunk one of hers. Tied at 61.
The crowd was frustrated and unhappy at this point, because we were playing well – no turnovers, good plays, good passes, we just couldn’t put them away.

Interval: Second installment of the team video, featuring the acquisition of a very young Lauren – wow, was she incredible, even then – and Sue. At one point in the video, Lauren scored and did a happy little dance and we all cracked up. Linn Dunn had some nice footage about both young players, and we got to see some college clips from Sue. At one point, the interviewer asked if she’d take any trade offers on Sue. Dunn didn’t even think about it, answering, “No,” immediately. The crowd loved it.

Eye the Tiger came on – LOUDLY. We all started clapping like maniacs.

Fourth Quarter
Thorn missed a three-pointer and Sue grabbed the rebound. Janell made a layup, off an assist from Tanisha, using a beautiful finesse move on Big Syl. Thorn missed another three-pointer. We all started to breathe, not for long. Sue missed a jump shot, and it looked like she got fouled, but no call. Surprise, surprise. Did I mention Kurt Walker was in the house? I swear he gets paid for keeping it close.

Fowles scored on a jump shot. Thorn fouled Sue, who only made one of her shots. Wince. Toliver turned the ball over. Yay, a rookie mistake! Sue missed a three. Wince again. I don’t know – I’ll probably never be as good as anything in my life as she is at basketball, but, honestly, Sue, honey, if they’re not falling for you, maybe it’s time to do something else?

Dupree MADE her three – of course – while I briefly entertained the fantasy of installing roving trap doors under the arc. Sky back on top. Janell scored. We’re tied. Toliver turned it over again. Yay! So did Tanisha. Sob! Fowles traveled. Yay! Tanisha SCORED! We’re ahead! Not for long. Toliver hit ANOTHER three. Chicago by one. Toliver fouled Janell, who missed one of her free throws. Tied again. The entire room isn’t breathing. 4:57 to go. Dupree fouled Lauren, who made both her shots. Up by one. Cash “fouled” Perkins from three-point range, giving her three shots. She hit all of them. Chicago by one. Swin hit a turnaround jumper. Seattle by one. Perkins scored. T scored, stole the ball from Perkins and scored again. She played so well. Seattle by three. Perkins hit ANOTHER THREE. Tied again. Damn it. I felt like I was watching Federer-Nadal at Wimbledon last year.

Camille missed two shots – Big Syl had a textbook block on her. She’s scary. Tanisha scored AGAIN. Seattle up by two. Perkins and Dupree each score – Dupree on another three – of course. Chicago by three. 1:14 to go. Lauren scored on a running layup, but couldn’t convert the free throw. Seattle down by one. Dupree put up a shot – no good. Tanisha grabbed the rebound. Sue missed her shot. Sob! They started running down the clock. Swin had an “oh, crap,” moment and fouled. Sue fouled Toliver. She made both free throws. Chicago by three. We took a timeout. Lauren missed her three. Damn. Doppler hid behind my chair. T fouled Perkins, who made her free throws. Game over. Chicago 86 – Seattle 81.

Dejected fans slunk home to console ourselves with wine and frozen yogurt.

Notes:
T was the absolute backbone of our team tonight. Even when she made a boneheaded move or two, she didn’t let it stop her, didn’t get frustrated and didn’t get sloppy. I don’t know where she gets her mental toughness from, but it was great to see.

No action from Batgirl or A-Rob tonight. Too bad.

Janell played like her old self. Frankly, I’d have left her in longer and rested Lauren a bit.

Camille also stepped up in a big way.

I hope Sue gets past this funk soon. Maybe it's time to get the yellow sneakers back out.

Lauren is definitely on her way back from whatever happened to her in the Phoenix game. Flashes of standard LJ brilliance, followed by small mistakes, missed shots and free throws. Great defense.

If Agler was counting on them getting cold from the perimeter, that was an expensive mistake. It really was a freak show. I’ve never seen a team shoot so well beyond the arc. It would have been great to see - if they hadn't been playing us.

We need to work on free throws. We also need to work on rebounding. Our defense is still pretty strong, except for “expensive mistake” noted above.

Big Syl is a force of nature.

Onto the Shock. Go Storm.