Final score: Storm 74 – Fever 60 (W) (15-11)

Submitted by LaurenRules

Officials: Michael (“I LOVE fouls”) Price, Amy (“which way?”) Onner, and Maj (“uh-oh”) Forseberg

Attendance: 8,273

Anthem: A Capella Joy – nice women’s barbershop sound. Took some liberties with the anthem, but they emphasized the words and meaning.

Player Introductions: Amusing moment during player intros – Katie Douglas got introduced twice, once for Ebony Hoffman, the other time as herself. I was surprised that Lauren and Swin’s achievements didn’t get mentioned when they were introduced.

First Quarter
Very even quarter, started off with an inexplicable whistle at 9:56, with refs ditsing around while they reset the shot clock. The Storm scored the first six points – two free throws from T, a turnaround jumper from Camille and a jump shot from Sue, with the Storm playing clamp defense between each possession. Tully hit a three. Lauren and Sutton-Brown each had free throws – Lauren made one of hers, Sutton-Brown made both of hers, but, a few minutes later, Lauren hit a huge three and we headed into three minutes of tough defense on both sides and no scoring.

Indiana went on a seven-point run and the entire arena’s heart collectively sank, but Janell made a great bank shot and put down the +1 to put the Storm even. More tough defense, rebounds, missed shots – on both sides. Indiana’s offense very pretty, very fast-moving, lots of passing, but their shots weren’t going in. T sank a layup, lots of razzle-dazzle. Her play is so much better this season, so much surer and more confident, it’s not even funny. Move over, Becky Hammon. Seattle up by 2. Crowd went nuts.

Katie Douglas went on a four-point run of her own, a layup and two free throws. Sue called on “traveling.” Moronic. Boos at refs. Lots of missed shots. Both Janell and Swin rebounded like maniacs. JB had five rebounds in the first quarter alone. 14-16 Indiana.

Interval: Doppler set the world record for WNBA mascots hitting half-court shots in 60 seconds. Happy Doppler.

Second Quarter
Seattle forced a shot clock turnover. Happy fans. LJ missed a three-point shot. Scoreless for over two minutes. Swin hit a jumper. Sutton-Brown hit a layup. Seattle’s shots not falling, and Indiana’s were – Dixon and Moore both scored. Camille drove to the basket, missed the layup but drew a foul, sinking both free throws. She’s clearly been practicing those. JB hit two free throws off of a Hoffman foul. Sue hit a three. Suddenly, Seattle was on a run – JB and T each hit layups, Swin hit a jumper and Lauren knocked down a three. Seattle up by EIGHT. Against INDIANA. Sutton-Brown hit a single free throw, off of a Lauren foul. T drew a foul on Sutton-Brown and hit both of her free throws. Seattle’s offense got very deliberate, very slow, culminating with a GLORIOUS three from Swin to close out the half. 37-25 Storm.

Halftime: Women of Inspiration. The Storm honored Harriet Dumba and Agnes Oswaha, co-founders of the Southern Sudanese Women’s Foundation; Carolyn Kelly, the COO of the Seattle Times; and Danielle Lawrie. Both African ladies were statuesque and glorious in what looked to be silk brocade. Sadly, Danielle Lawrie couldn’t be there, but we got to see a nice recorded message from her. Heather Tarr, the UW women’s softball coach, accepted the award on her behalf.

The ceremony went a little long – the Fever were waiting pretty impatiently to get out on the floor. Low, low shooting percentage for both teams. Seattle ahead on rebounds. Indiana ahead on steals and blocks.

Third Quarter
Nice start to the quarter with Sutton-Brown whistled for a foul. Lauren put down a very pretty turnaround jumper. She has some gorgeous moves, even with a sore back. Tully scored. Both Lauren and Camille missed easy layups, but Seattle rebounded MUCH better this game. Sue hit a layup. Hoffman whistled for traveling, but Seattle unable to capitalize. Catchings scored. Sue hit a HUGE three. Camille fouled, sank both free throws. She did a GREAT job of drawing blocking fouls tonight. Tully scored again. Sue scored again. Sue and JB each whistled for ticky-tack fouls. Douglas sank a beautiful fast-moving layup. If that makes the WNBA POD, my head is going to explode, especially since the WNBA has consistently ignored BEAUTIFUL Storm plays ALL SEASON. Not that I’m bitter or anything.

Camille hit two more free throws and Indiana went on a five-point run. Rather than freaking out, Seattle just brought its clamp defense, holding Indiana to just one bucket in over three minutes. The refs, however, seemed to decide that we didn’t know who was supposed to be winning: every time a Seattle player did ANYTHING, it was whistle, whistle, whistle. Tanisha did have a very ugly foul in there, but the rest of the calls were just stupid, especially when they ignored Jessica Moore clocking Janell in the face. They also called traveling on T, which, from my angle, looked completely bogus. ANGRY crowd. LOUD booing.

The Storm, however, were in a different zone tonight, calmly brushing the bad calls off like so many irritating insects. T hit a jumper, Swin sank a layup, and, with 1.5 seconds to go, JB hit a layup off of a beautiful feed from Sue, and sank the +1. 57-46 Storm.

Interval
Part Five of the Storm History video. Nice footage of some of our current players. I thought they could’ve done more to emphasize LJ’s SECOND MVP award, but whatever. It also covered the sale of the Sonics and Clay Bennett was roundly booed when he came up on the screen.

Fourth Quarter
JB drew a foul on Briann January and, once again, sank both free throws. She and Camille were machines from the line tonight. Unlike Tully, who appeared to be pretty tired, January had very fresh legs, running away from Sue on the very next play to hit a jumper. Camille hit a layup. Teams played tough defense for about two minutes. No points scored. JB had a MONSTER block on January – SWAT. A few minutes later, she sent the ball to LJ for an assist, but LJ sent it right back, and JB put it down. Sue was CLOCKED in the face. Many booes. Tully was flipping and flopping during this quarter, trying to draw fouls when there was obviously no contact. It didn’t work.

Douglas hit a three – nothing but net – Sue, back in, apparently okay, hit a jumper – and Catchings hit another three, followed by a Hoffman layup. Indiana within nine. More stifling defense. Swin hit a layup. Hoffman hit a layup, blanketed by LJ’s free throws. Seattle reacted very intelligently to those shots, I thought, just stepping back when it was obvious they couldn’t stop her, grabbing the ball and playing their game. I gather this is what Agler’s offense is supposed to look like – intelligent and precise. Good work, Storm, especially Sue.

Katie Douglas was very frustrated – T just would NOT let up on her. Seattle closed out the game hitting free throws, as Indiana kept calling timeouts and fouling. Not that it did them any good. Final score: 74-60 Storm

Notes:
Huge props to JB this game. She played like an All-Star.
Extra-special defensive props to T, JB, Camille and Swin. Well, to everyone. They just knocked Indiana on their heels and kept them there. If T isn’t shortlisted for DPOY or MIP or both, I’m going to be seriously annoyed.

Nice to see A-Walk back in uniform, although neither Ashley got to play.

Some previous Women of Inspiration award winners were in attendance tonight.

Kristen O’Neill was in the house. She’s Joan Bonovinci’s new assistant coach. Go, Kristen!

Two high-ranking Army nurses were sitting next to Indiana’s bench (but clapping for the Storm) – one a Major General, the other a Lieutenant Colonel who was the USO’s Nurse of the Year and was awarded a Bronze Star. They looked tired.

Katie seems to be walking a bit easier.

Really fabulous game, ladies. Consistent throughout, strong mental focus, good offense, excellent defense. Keep it up!

Onto the Mystics.