Final score: Storm 63 – Shock 66 (L) (8-6)

Submitted by LaurenRules

Injury Report: Deanna Nolan (right hamstring pull), Alexis Hornbuckle (sore knee), Plenette Pierson (knee surgery) – Ashley Walker, sore toe

Anthem: Cathy Crosslin. A very tall, large woman with a low alto. She was okay.

Attendance: 6,821 (ow!)

Officials: Clarke (“Rick Mahorn’s love slave”) Stevens (ack!), Penny (“20/400 vision”) Davis and Shelley (“the Swin-hater”) Nakasone

Introduction: The Storm looked very relaxed and happy tonight, but my heart sunk when I saw Nolan and Smith just draining three after three during the warm-ups and had (the vain) hope that they would leave it on the floor. Only a smattering of applause for the Shock, little more for Taj, Katie and Hornbuckle. No one really paid attention to Mahorn, who is one of the largest human beings I have ever seen. He was very nattily dressed in a dark brown/charcoal suit, a dark lavender shirt and a purple silk tie. If I wasn’t extremely annoyed at Agler (boring beige suit) right now, I’d suggest he ask Mahorn for sartorial advice.

“Beat It” for intro music. The Dance Troupe were wearing new shirts, long-sleeved white ones decorated in green with “09” emblazoned on the back.

First Quarter
LJ won the tip, but missed on a three-pointer. Nolan snagged the rebound, and McWilliams sank a jump shot. She so does not play like she’s 39, it’s ridiculous. Cheryl Ford (who really does look exactly like a feminine version of Karl Malone) hammered Camille on the next play, but she missed both free throws. McWilliams scored again, and then a nice little miss-fest ensued, until Camille sank a fade away jumper at 7:53. They missed a bunch more shots (where were our rebounds?) and DeForge committed a foul. Lauren sank a jump shot to tie things up.

Nolan (who did NOT play as if she had a sore anything) and McWilliams both scored and they were up by four. Sue missed a jump shot, collared her own rebound, and fed it to Lauren, who got hammered by McWilliams. LJ sank both free throws, to our incredible relief. Ford scored. The refs went on a whistle witchhunt – basically, any Storm player who got anywhere near the ball got called on a foul, but the Thugs, errr, Shock got away with extreme violence, if not murder - Swin was CLOCKED in the face, for instance. Camille made a critical error on offense and Janell came in. Why Agler doesn’t start her, I don’t know, because she’s playing really, really well – grabbed a wonderful, textbook rebound that defines “boxing out” on her very first play. Tanisha, Swin and Janell were all called for fouls in the space of 25 seconds. No calls on Detroit. Ford sank one free throw. Swin broke our scoring logjam thanks to a very nice assist from Tanisha (who has over 300 career assists now - go T!)

Lauren was having trouble hanging onto the ball, turned it over twice in a row. DeForge and Nolan both scored, Nolan on a three. 16-8 Shock with 2:59 to go. Sue yanked us back into the game by main force, feeding T a great pass and then scoring herself. Katie Smith and Janell traded points. Braxton clocked Janell, but, of course, wasn’t whistled for it. I began to have dark thoughts about the source of Clarke Stevens’ bank account. 18-14, Detroit.

Sue had three rebounds that quarter. Something is wrong when your point guard is one of your leading rebounders.

Interval: Doppler Twister Game. I was too annoyed at the officials and our own lackluster play to pay much attention. The guy won. Shellie Hart’s voice still pierces eardrums.

Second Quarter
Six seconds in, Shannon was whistled for a foul. What a surprise. Zellous scored. It must be noted that she was wearing her hair in an odd style, sort of resembling a rooster’s crest. But she can certainly shoot. She can also foul. Camille had a turnover, Hornbuckle had a TO of her own and then committed a frustration foul, which always cheers me up, because it means we’re getting to them. Unfortunately, Camille missed a shot and was called for a foul – that looked iffy to me, although I know I am biased. Timeout Storm. We haven’t scored at all and it’s 8:10.

Interval: Katie Starbird in the house. She’s in graduate school at UC-Boulder doing computer science and sociology work. She thinks Seattle fans are great. Yay, us.

McWilliams turned the ball over and Lauren made her pay with a three-pointer. Happy fans. Ford missed a jump shot. Happier fans. Swin was whistled for touching the ball, by Shelley Nakasone. Angry fans. Detroit missed a bunch of opportunities, while the crowd got frustrated that they had so many chances. Camille and T were each whistled for fouls. I gave up speculating about Clarke Stevens’ bank account and decided that he must have an unrequited crush on Rick Mahorn – those calls were INCREDIBLY stupid, including a T on Tanisha, for just walking away from him. WTF? Fans weren’t just angry any more, they were incensed, screaming, booing. Katie Smith sank the technical. She’d probably make her free throws if the arena was literally in flames. Zellous made her free throws. Tanisha, now with three fouls, sat. Katie G. came in.

Lauren scored. Detroit went on a run – Braxton and McWilliams both scored, and Nolan put down a three. Wasn’t she supposed to be sore? 30-19 Shock. Storm fans tense and unhappy. Katie shot, was blocked and had a very nice little putback. Very pretty. The arena started breathing again. Ten seconds later, Braxton scored. Groan. We were doing a better job shutting them down on the perimeter, but they were owning us in the paint. Each team scored three times – Sue, Swin and Lauren for us, DeForge, Ford and Braxton for them. Detroit still up by eleven. Kate hit a beautiful three. Braxton turned it over, but Lauren missed her own three. Janell was whistled for a foul during the ensuing rebounding mayhem. It’s worth noting that the refs called three fouls on Detroit and eight on Seattle in the second quarter. I saw at least three on Detroit that weren’t called.

Ford hit one of her free throws. Sue took a hurried-up three and missed. 39-30 Shock.

Halftime Entertainment: Shorecrest High School’s hip-hop team. They recently won the state championship. Nice sense of rhythm, probably need to work more on unison. Fans fumed about the lousy officiating.

Third Quarter
Deanna Nolan missed a jumper. Swin grabbed the rebound. Lauren missed a jump shot, grabbed the rebound and sent it out to Sue, who restarted the offense. Camille drove to the basket, but McWilliams fouled her. Oh, how nice, the refs actually remembered that they need to call fouls on BOTH teams. Camille scored. Contentious, disruptive defense on our end, leading to a jump ball between Camille and Deanna Nolan. Camille won and Swin got the ball. Tanisha scored on a driving layup. Storm down by five.

Lots of misses on both ends, including, worryingly, one by Lauren. McWilliams fouled Swin, who sank one of her free throws. Storm down by four. De Forge scored on a jump shot. Damn. Swin scored and made the +1 thanks to a Ford foul. My opinion of the officials went up a notch. (It still had a long way to go). Storm within three. McWilliams picked up her fourth foul (yay!!). Camille turned the ball over, due to “traveling” – of course, the fact that the Thugs’, er, Shock bigs were all over her didn’t matter. My opinion of the officials can’t get much lower at this point.

Tanisha blocked Hornbuckle’s shot, LJ grabbed the rebound, but missed her jump shot. Braxton grabbed the rebound, but considerately turned the ball over. Nolan committed another foul. Tanisha scored on a step back jumper. Storm within ONE. T was whistled for her FOURTH foul when a Shock player fell over her. Camille missed a jumper. Ford grabbed the rebound, but LJ and Braxton got tangled up and in a jump ball, which Lauren won. Tanisha had the ball. Zellous “blocked” Swin’s shot (by hitting her on the wrist) – and Lauren was whistled for a foul. Zellous hit both free throws. Tanisha hit a running jumper.

Hornbuckle turned the ball over again with a nice steal from Lauren, and, again, fouled Camille. Camille made both of her free throws. Storm AHEAD by one! The Key went crazy. Smith sank a three. Lauren went out at 3:28, injured, although it wasn't terribly noticeable to the arena at large.

Suzy BB and Ashley came in. Smith hit a jumper and two free throws off a (you guessed it) “foul” from Swin. I wonder if she stole Shelley Nakasone’s parking space, because that was easily one of the dumbest calls that I’ve seen in recent memory. Storm back down by six.

Zellous fouled Tanisha. She does this very funny, “Qui? Moi?” impression when she’s called for a foul – it’s some pretty serious overacting. T sank both free throws. Next play, Braxton fouled Camille. She hit both of her free throws. Detroit’s lead down to two. A-Rob did a very nice job on Braxton – she was blanketing her. Suzy BB fouled Braxton. Ouch. Braxton missed both free throws. Nice rebound by A-Rob. Suzy turned the ball over. Missed shots on both sides. 50-48 Detroit.

Fourth Quarter
Sue stepped up in a big way, scoring and with a steal, but Swin was whistled for her fifth foul. STUPID call. A-Rob headed for the bench. Katie G sunk a three, Katie S hit one of her own, Katie G just scored again to pull the Storm even.

Tanisha was called for her fifth “foul.” Grrr. Poor Sue who barely got to sit down came back in. Smith missed a three – thank GOD. JB and Camille both hit layups with assists from Sue. Seattle up by four. Zellous missed a jump shot, Katie grabbed the rebound. Zellous committed a frustration foul on Camille, who missed both free throws AGAIN. Zellous scored. Ugly play from the Storm – turnovers from Katie and JB and a missed shot from Swin. Sue scored. 61-57, Storm. Nolan hit a three. Storm still up by one. Camille scored. 63-60. Notice on jumbotron that Lauren was hurt with a strained calf and wouldn't be back in. I'd noticed she was gone, but, judging from the gasps I heard, it wasn't widely noticed. A wave of anxiety filled the arena.

Sue scrambled to get the ball, but stepped out of bounds. Swin fouled out – who knows why. I wondered if voodoo dolls actually work on referees. I also worried that we would run out of guards. Sue missed a three. Shot clock violation. Groan. Smith scored twice. Detroit up by one, with 1:41 to go. T drove to the basket, was hammered and stripped, but no call. Penny Davis is an idiot. I thought I was through being shocked at the bad officiating. Apparently not.

Ford grabbed the rebound. Zellous turned the ball over – break for us! Sue missed her jump shot, Ford grabbed the rebound again, and JB fouled her. T fouled Katie Smith and fouled out. Katie sunk both free throws. Game over. 66-63 Detroit.

Notes:
We should have won anyway and certainly didn’t play our best, but the CRAPPY officiating didn’t help at all. God!

Sue had a better showing than she has in quite some time.

I don’t get why Agler took Katie out while she was hot. A few more treys in the 3Q and we’re looking at a very different outcome.

Also – COACH, LET ASHLEY AND SUZY PLAY!!!!! If he keeps this up, JB or Camille will end up getting hurt, too.

Swin has spoiled me – I’m too used to her coming up big. T was her usual hardworking self. Camille had some good plays and boneheaded other ones.

Our defense in the third quarter was a thing of beauty. We need to do that all of the time.

Sadly, Detroit continues to play like thugs. Thrown elbows, held jerseys and tripping are the least of it.

I so hope Lauren is okay. What a sucky, sucky injury. We had a hard time with Ruth Riley when she was well. Hopefully, JB, A-Rob and Suzy are ready to go.