Final score: Storm 72 – Lynx 69 (W) (10-6)

Submitted by LaurenRules

Officials: Denise (wait, did I AGREE with that call?) Brooks, Penny Davis (AGAIN?), and Eric (“Mr. Offensive Foul”) Brewton.

Attendance: 6,912 (Sunny weather + Bite of Seattle + Early Start Time = Fewer fans)

Anthem: The 204th Army Band from Fort Lewis. Colors presented by the Coast Guard. Big difference in the anthem when performed by a military band. Much more serious, much less like an escapee from American Idol.

Introduction
During warm-ups, Lauren was sitting on the end of the bench, looking very pretty in a multi-colored tank top, with her hair in a single braid. Her hair is extremely long. Sue looked lonely up there, being a co-captain all by herself.

Player intros: Nice applause for Roneeka Hodges, Candice Wiggins and Renee Montgomery. Jennifer Gillom was in Lynx colors: a gray suit that made her look even taller and a turquoise shirt. Gray is not her color. Her tall assistant looks more like Lurch than ever. Agler still doesn’t acknowledge the crowd’s applause. Um, Coach, it’s an introduction, it’s okay to wave and smile at the crowd. They’ll clap louder.

LJ came out first, walking gingerly on her sore leg, followed by Ashley W. As others have mentioned, she mainly hugged the players as they came out, with modified hip bumps for Tanisha and Katie. As the team gathered, Camille and Janell did identical calf stretches, which almost looked choreographed. The bench did a cute little dance with Lauren in the middle, while she cracked up.

First Quarter
We lost the tip, making me wonder how much time Agler spends on jump balls. Janell has two inches on Anosike; she shouldn’t be losing jump balls to her. Anosike has an impressive vertical, though. Montgomery sent up a three, which missed. The Storm missed a shot of their own, Anosike grabbed the rebound and made a running jump shot. Damn. Janell scored off a nice pass from Swin. Yay! We all got to sit down.

Wiggins and Janell traded fouls and Anosike had a very good block on Swin. Another missed shot for Minnesota. Camille grabbed the rebound. T drove to the basket and scored the +1 on a foul from Anosike. Shannon was so excited, she leaped off the bench. She was pumped. Wiggins scored and Swin and Montgomery each got to shoot free throws. Swin made hers. Montgomery missed one. Awwww, shucks. Darn. Sue missed two shots – she looked very intense, very focused and very tired.

Minnesota went on a 6-0 run to put them ahead 12-7, with 4:34 to go. Tanisha had a textbook block on Charde Houston – PERFECT – but Montgomery “blocked” Sue’s jump shot (FOUL, anyone?). Sue and Anosike each stole the ball from each other, much to Sue’s disgust, but no one scored. T picked up her second foul and sat – Janell having picked up her second foul a little earlier. Anosike made a free throw, missed the second, and A-Rob grabbed the rebound.

Camille went on a mini-run all by herself, scoring on two jump shots, a layup and a BEAUTIFUL three. Unfortunately, Minnesota countered with Houston making two shots, Anosike scoring on a fadeaway jumper and Wiggins putting in a very pretty three. She seems to have overcome her earlier-season funk. Good news for Minnesota, for women’s basketball in general, I suppose,and for Candice, of course. Less good news for the Storm. 22-16 Minnesota.

Interval
Nice video with highlight-reel clips from our THREE All-Stars! Congrats, ladies.

Second Quarter
Sue, who was still looking tired, started the quarter on the bench. T and Shannon put on a scoring clinic, sinking free throws (2 T, 1 Shannon) and field goals. The Storm pulled AHEAD. The fans went berserk. Katie turned the ball over. McCants sank a three. She was hitting threes all over the place the last time she was here – very unpleasant memory. All tied up.

Janell missed a layup and Anosike grabbed the rebound, but Katie intercepted what could have been a highly unpleasant fast break with a very clever steal. You go, girl. Her sense of court action around her seems much more acute this year. Katie fed T, who sent it to JB for a layup. This one fell. T had some ridiculously pretty assists tonight. Scoreless drought for over a minute (it felt longer). Suzy came in.

Houston turned the ball over. Katie missed a shot. Anosike grabbed the rebound. McCants missed a three. Wiggins was wide open on that play, thank God no one noticed. Houston went sky-high on the rebound (speaking of good verticals) and scored. Agler yanked Suzy. Ouch. She did look pretty lost and it’s a close game, but only letting her play for a minute and a half? Judging from her expression and demeanor, this is not proving to be a good experience for her. I hope he figures out what he’s doing – and soon.

Hodges sank a jump shot. Katie poured in a three with a nice assist from Sue. Sue missed another jumper. Hodges made a three. Grrrr. Camille scored. Houston scored. Swin got blocked by Anosike. Looked like a foul. She had a very, very intense expression – sort of a thousand-yard stare. Wiggins hit a layup. Lynx up by four. Our offense got either tired or confused – missed shots, shot clock turnovers and fouls. Minnesota not looking much better. Anosike finally scored. Sue BURIED a beautiful three.

Katie fouled Hodges on a running layup, but made up for it on the rebound when Hodges couldn’t convert – with no tall posts on the floor, she just settled in and grabbed it. Swin scored off of another pretty T pass. Wiggins turned the ball and Sue grabbed it. Nice hustle tonight, even though she looked really tired. 40-37 Minnesota.

Halftime: Shooting game, where three people each had sixty second to make a layup, free throw, three and a halfcourt shot. All three of them scored on layups, free throws and three-pointers. No one made the halfcourt shot, although the second guy got the closest, hitting the rim several times.

Very gung-ho Army ad on the Jumbotron. Wondered what the crowd thought.

Third Quarter
Janell got us off to an excellent start with a highlight reel layup, assist from Sue. Sue’s shot may not be falling, but there’s nothing wrong with her floor vision or her defense. Montgomery missed a jumper. Swin hit hers. Seattle up by one. Janell had a nice steal from Wiggins. Sue missed a three. Anosike and Camille each hit and missed a free throw. Humphrey hit a huge three. She can hit THOSE? Why have I never noticed her before? Janell made two more textbook layups. She was on fire tonight.

Swin scored and put down the +1, thanks to a foul on Wiggins. Minnesota couldn’t do much except hit free throws and not even all of those. Anosike was missing quite a bit. A-Rob blocked her, got whistled for the foul, but Anosike only converted one of them. Minnesota went on a mini-run and our offense went flat. Humphrey, McCants and Wiggins all scored – we had turnovers, bad passes, fouls and shots that wouldn’t fall. Seattle down by six. We looked really disorganized and confused.

Swin bounced us out of that with a bank shot. Wiggins sank a three and looked very excited. Camille sank two free throws, but Miller hit a three to end the quarter. Grrr. 60-53, Lynx.

Fourth Quarter
Hollingsworth picked up an offensive foul and Tanisha made the most of it, scoring on a layup. She went into another zone at the beginning of the quarter, stealing the ball from Wiggins THREE TIMES and scoring twice, while Minnesota just sat there and watched. Sue missed an easy jumper – and looked even more disgusted at herself – but it looked like she just didn’t have the usual spring in her legs.

Janell scored on a somewhat wild hook shot. Seattle within one. Montgomery drained a three. Pesky little rookie. Janell picked up her fifth foul. Nooooo!!!! Montgomery hit both free throws and Humphrey scored. All of a sudden, Seattle was down by NINE at 6:00 to go. How did that happen? Agler called a timeout. I hoped he was telling them that T couldn’t do it all by herself. Shannon hit two free throws.

Three scoreless minutes ensued. Things in my vicinity got rather tense. Seattle still down by six. We were running an offensive set. My section was screaming, “SHOOT!” like maniacs. Apparently, Swin heard us and sank a dagger-like three. Seattle within three. Houston scored. Camille apparently decided she wasn’t going for losing thing, scored, and, after we forced a shot-clock turnover, scored again. Down by one. Houston missed a layup. Timeout Storm. Down by one with 18.4 to go. Tanisha drove to the basket on a layup and SCORED! SEATTLE AHEAD!!!! The crowd were screaming like maniacs. 10.3 to go.

Minnesota called a timeout. Camille called on a kickball. Minnesota forced to burn their final timeout. Aw, shucks. Wiggins drove to the basket, but Camille took a charge and we got the call! Happy Storm bedlam at far side of court with players hugging Camille.

Montgomery and Hodges each fouled Sue and Tanisha respectively. Hodges’ foul put the Storm into the bonus. T hit a free throw, Minnesota was called on a lane violation on her second miss and she sank it. 72-69 Storm!

Notes:
Sue definitely looked intense and annoyed with herself when she didn’t make easy shots, but she seemed calmer than the other day. Agree that it might be better for her to sit when she’s not running the offense. She did a good job working the refs.

The Lynx had some very nice ensemble play. This was not the weak, ineffectual team we pasted last month. Props to Jennier Gillom.

T is a superstar and has nerves of sheer, solid stone.
Camille and Janell also played unbelievably well.

Swin seemed to be a bit more quiet tonight, but she surely provided energy when it was needed.

Shannon stepped up big as well, especially in the first half. Katie more quiet offensively than usual, but had some nice minutes on defense.

At one of the breaks, Doppler, Shellie and Doppler’s “assistant” played a trick on a guy wearing a Lynx jersey, involving an empty box, a fishing rod and a “let’s make a deal” shtick. Hopefully, the guy got his shirt back.

I think the Storm have three plays that should be included in this weeks’ Top Ten – Tanisha’s winning shot, Camille drawing the charge, and Sue’s crazy, one-handed shot against Sacramento. Let's see what actually makes it in there.

Thanks for a very nice early birthday present, Storm. Another win on Wednesday would be the awesome (as a young girl in line behind me kept saying).