Final score: Storm 86 – Sun 74 (W) (17-11)

Submitted by LaurenRules

Pre-Game: Pink. A sea of pink was washing over the inside of Key Arena, from the sweet little girl in the frilly sundress and Bose Headphones to a linebacker-sized guy strolling his way to his seat. Tonight was Breast Health Awareness Night, and many fans, including yours truly, were sporting pink. The Storm were wearing hot pink shooting shirts – very nice – and Sue, Lauren and Shannon were sporting pink shoes. Swin had a pink headband and Agler a pink tie. Kind of bummed not to see the Storm in pink uniforms – they would have contrasted nicely with the Sun’s away uniforms in dark blue. Maybe next year.

The Sun were hitting some nice shots during the warmup. Tamika Whitmore has gained a LOT of weight and was moving considerably slower than she has in years past. Odd warmup for Amber Holt – she kept slamming the ball into the floor for some reason.

Introduction of Adam Westerman, as “honorary Storm Ball Boy.” Adam raised $7,000 for the Cure, in honor of his mother who had breast cancer, and served as honorary Grand Marshall of the kids race this past June. Nice round of applause. Unfortunately, the audience was a bit sparse.

Officials: Roy Gulbeyan, Tom Mauer, and Maj Forsberg.
Attendance: 6,588

Anthem: The Match 4s. Four freshly-scrubbed guys in incongruously yellow shirts. Someone should have told them to wear pink. Lots of key changes in this jazzy variation. At least they all stayed in the same key. Most of the time.

Player introductions: No more than a smattering of applause for the Sun, with a slightly-elevated round of applause for Lindsay Whalen. Cool pink light during the Storm intros. Both Lauren and Sue got to hand of their basketballs to two little girls wearing their respective jerseys. Nice smiles from each. Lauren didn’t jump and bang quite as much as usual. The kids all got pink basketballs “for the Cure.” Doppler sporting a slightly paler pink Breast Health Awareness shirt in super Extra-Large. I think I have one of those in my drawer from a few years ago, but in a slightly smaller size.

First Quarter
The Sun won the tip, much good it did them, as T stole the ball and Sue scored on a running layup. The Sun fumbled around a bit offensively, and the Storm took full advantage, with Camille hitting a layup and a single free throw. Lauren made her presence felt right away, too, with a great jump shot, a +1 free throw and a both free throws after a Gardin foul. 10-2 Storm, with 6:32 to go. Swin’s shots weren’t falling, and she looked frustrated, but kept hustling.

Connecticut found their collective shot and we traded baskets and free throws. GORGEOUS driving bank shot from T – she had an amazing ability to score against and around larger players. (There were THREE people with TW initials tonight – Tanisha, Tan and Tamika. Reading my notes is going to be a horror. Apologies in advance if I mess anything up). Sue whistled for what we thought was a foul (lots of boos) but turned out to be a kickball. Marquee names not scoring for CT – Gardin went all out, and White hit one, but then Sue lit up a three. Gruda scored, Sue made a jump shot, Gardin scored, and we had ourselves a competitive game. Quarter ended with a bucket from Holt and a missed trey from Sue. 19 -15 Storm.

Interval: Go Green tip from Swin about Goodwill. Van Chancellor in the house and received a nice ovation.

Second Quarter
Phillips got the quarter off to a good start – for the Sun – with a steal and a bucket. Swin’s shot still not falling. Refs got out the whistles again, fouls called on Lauren, Holt and Tanisha. Phillips picked Sue’s pocket and, on a defensive breakdown for Seattle, Black scored on a layup. Tanisha put up a bank shot. Missed shots for both teams. Lauren whistled for abysmally stupid second “foul.” Swin broke her scoring drought and put down four free throws in a row. LOTS of applause.

Camille scored, doing a great job to fake out her defenders. Sun’s shots not falling. Shannon drew a foul on Whalen and put down both HER free throws. Storm up by TEN.

Connecticut’s star players abruptly upped their game. Whalen scored on a jumper and Whitmore hit a three. She’s about two steps slower than I remember, but anyone who underestimates her is making a serious mistake. She and Tully have the same form on their shots. Sun within five. Sue calmly scored on a running bank shot and a jumper, after Swin stole the ball from White. Another gorgeous Sue-Lauren-Sue play and the Storm back up by nine. Whalen and Anete Jekabsone-Zogota (there’s no way I’m typing that every time) both scored. Swin missed a layup (looked to be fouled), but was whistled for a foul instead and Whitmore hit both of her free throws. Crowd getting angry. Sun within three.
Gruda stole the ball from Sue, but our favorite point guard demonstrated that playing well is the best revenge and snatched it right back, feeding Lauren who missed a three. Camille and White traded buckets and Tanisha hit a free throw off of a Whalen foul. 36-32 Storm.

Halftime Entertainment: Seriously talented Seattle Dance Squad known as the Massive Monkeys. They’re on MTV on Sunday nights and are definitely worth watching. I have no idea how they do some of that stuff, including balancing on one hand, balancing on their heads and some amazing flexibility moves.

The team came out for halftime warmup and T forgot her pink shirt, the lone green holdout in a sea of pink.

Third Quarter
Lauren got off to a rough start with a missed shot and a turnover (after which she breathed a clearly visible *bleep*). She and Sue were both laughing, though. Gruda scored. Lots of missed shots, during which we allowed far too many offensive boards and committed too many turnovers. Lauren and Whalen ended up in a jump ball situation and Lauren won handily. Swin hit a layup and the crowd went nuts. Lauren hit a LOVELY three after a missed shot from Gruda. Connecticut responded with a three and a jump shot from Whalen. They’re tough. I can admire them now that the game is over, but at the time, I was just praying that the Storm would be able to put them away. Sun within two.

Swin stepped up, feeding Lauren for a layup and hitting two more free throws off of a White foul. Gardin hit a layup and, suddenly, the arena went crazy with 3s – Sue and Whalen each had two, White and Swin each had one, with a layup from Camille thrown in. During one of those plays, Sue was CLOCKED, but no foul called. She looked very annoyed. 56-50 Storm with 2:04 to go. Final shot – T drove to basket, was stripped (and FOULED), but no foul called. 59-53 Storm.

Fourth Quarter
The refs continued their “selective calling” – Janell whistled for a foul on Holt that looked like a straightforward block to me. Holt sunk two of three. Tanisha whistled on an offensive “foul”. Whitmore hit a jumper. Swin hit a jumper – great time to break out of a shooting slump. Shannon picked Whitmore’s pocket and Tanisha scored on a running layup. Out came the whistles on both sides, if slightly weighted towards ours. Swin drew Holt’s fifth foul, after which Holt jumped up and down in frustration. Not quite T-worthy, but jeez. Camille hit a layup, faking her defenders out of position. Storm up by eight.

The Sun answered with an impressive run, Phillips hit a three. Totally, totally bogus and stupid offensive foul called on Lauren, who got knocked over and fell HARD. Ow, her back probably didn’t like that at ALL. Fans incensed by replay with boos ringing the rafters. Gardin and Gruda hit layups. Lead down to one. The air went flat. Timeout Storm. Tanisha turned the ball over. Collective gasp. Fortunately, Phillips missed a three. Lauren, Sue and Camille combined to poke the rebound free. Lauren heaved the ball in for a running bank by sheer force of will – the look on her face was downright scary. Gardin scored and a totally bogus foul called on Camille. VERY angry fans. Fortunately, she missed her free throw. Lauren drove for a layup and was fouled and hit the +1.

Sue took the baton at this point, fed Swin for a bucket and hit two of her own. Storm up by eight. I really got the impression that Sue and Lauren just decided we were NOT going to lose this game, by sheer force of their collective will. Whalen hit a reverse layup, but then the last minute was pretty much a foulfest, with the Sun going after our players and our players sinking their shots. Even when it was clear they weren’t going to win, Connecticut went right on playing. Our final play was a nice block from Janell on a Phillips shot. Final score: 86-74.

Notes:
Post-game interview with Sue. Very unsettling camera work. I think the cameraman wanted to highlight her pink shoes, but it’s weird to see an All-Star guard’s knees during an interview. Very funny interview – Sue made a pointed comment about “being interested to find out how we gave up an eight-point lead,” and the wonderful comment from LJ about “Just get me the #$%$ ball!”

Funny skit with Doppler and Jason and dancing that went on too long. The skits seem much more directed at kids this year. Jason wearing an eye-searing cerise warmup suit. Shellie had a great quote, “1982 called – they want their warmup suit back!”

The announcer blathers too much during the Ride the Train timeouts. He should just let the kids go.

Our bench barely saw the light of day - just Shannon and Janell, with a cameo appearance by Suzy. Suzy nearly did that thing with her shorts AGAIN. Poor Ashley-squared. Let's hope they get some minutes against Atlanta.

Really horrible officiating tonight. What else is new?
Onto Atlanta.