Final score: Storm 75 – Shock 59 (W) (20-2)

Submitted by | LaurenRules

Pre-Game
This game got off to something of a rocky start, as I pulled in to a parking lot only to realize that I’d forgotten my wallet! A frantic search for street parking ensued, followed by a dead sprint across several blocks to get in line to get my Swin Bobblehead. Fortunately, the nearby church was playing some of my favorite hymns while I waited in line and I amused myself by singing along with the chimes, much to the amusement of the people in front of me. Even more fortunately, I didn’t forget my notebook and pen – or my ticket.

Got through the line, grabbed my bobblehead and made another mad dash up to the Concourse where the Stormfans party was occurring. Thanks to BOTH Admins, for a wonderful gathering of cupcakes (lemon frosting, yum!), introductions, and conversation. A special shout out and thanks must go to Mrs. Admin, who, when she heard of my money-less plight, kindly fronted me some $$$ so I could get some water.

Lauren received her Peak Performer Player of the Month Award before the game. Her hair is REALLY, really red right now. The Storm were in their “Go Red” warm-up shirts that didn’t quite match up with her glowing locks.

Officials
Daryl Humphrey, Michael Price, and Maj Forsberg.

Attendance
9,686

Anthem
Sue Nixon. She must have had some connection to Go Red night, because the announcer referenced an “amazing story.” Very low alto, very slowly sung, a bit too American Idol for me.

Fashion Notes
I’m going to give Jenny Boo the Fashion MVP Award for the year. Pencil-thin white skirt, peekaboo heels, magenta shirt. Nancy was in her usual dark suit with a peach top. Agler wore a dark suit, blue shirt and a red tie (Go Red!). On the other side, Nolan Richardson was sporting the casual chic look, with a black jacket, gray pants and a collarless white shirt.

This recap is going to be interesting with Lacy/Lacey, Jackson/Jackson, Robinson/Robinson and two “SCs” – Swin Cash and Shanna Crossley. But, we persevere.

First Quarter
Tulsa won the tip. Jennifer Lacy (“JL”) put in a nice layup, off of a feed from Tiffany Jackson (“TJ”). Slightly stagnant offensive interval ensued. T missed, LJ grabbed the board, and Black fouled LJ. Kickball violation on Tulsa. Sue passed to Camille and Black fouled her on a shot attempt. Camille split her free throws. I don’t remember her splitting those so consistently in the past – she used to make them all of the time. I wonder what’s up with that.

Lauren grabbed the rebound off of Camille’s miss. Sue put a three and Tulsa grabbed the board, only to obligingly turn the ball over when Latta threw the ball out of bounds. Some nice offensive ball movement and Camille fed Lauren the ball for a gorgeous layup. Tulsa pushed the pace the opposite direction and Scholanda Robinson (“SR”) put up a nice jumper. T whistled for a foul. Nicole Ohlde came in – weird to see her in Shock black – and immediately sank a nice jumper.

Lots of missed shots for us and Agler began to look peeved. Camille “quick hands” Little stole the ball from TJ and got the ball to Sue, who ran an offensive set, eventually feeding T who sank a three. All tied up at 6 apiece. Latta missed a jump shot. She seems shorter this season, somehow. Has she shrank? Lauren grabbed the rebound. Sue fed Swin for a really lovely jumper.

TJ drove the other way and scored, drawing a foul on Camille. Mount St. Agler erupted at that point and he began haranguing the bench, who were sitting very, very still. TJ hit her free throw. 6 – 9 Tulsa. JL stole the ball from Camille, and Ohlde put up a really nice post move – against LAUREN – to score another two. Guess Phoenix really wasn’t her team. Swin sank a gorgeous three off of a feed from Lauren to tie things up.

Timeout on the floor. Shellie Hart with the usual product placement, including a very cute little shirt for the toddler in your life that says, “I may be little, but I’m a HUGE Storm fan.” Alaska Airlines seat upgrade. The poor guy was covered in Silly String.

Le’coe and Svet came in. Missed shots on both ends. Sue started an offensive set where she basically skipped under the basket and laid it in. Yay! Ohlde shot, grabbed two offensive boards and scored. Wince. Le’coe got a great feed from Swin under the basket to lay it up and in. I know I’ve said this about a thousand times, but she is just sooo strong under the basket. More missed shots. JL fouled LJ (nice symmetry there!). Gasp around the arena as Lauren missed her first free throw, but put down the second. SR scored. LJ missed a three. Her shots really weren’t falling as well as usual. KB snagged the rebound , put a shot, but AWESOME block from Svet. KB snagged the ball, though, and fed Crossley, who sank a three. Ouch! Tulsa up by two.

More missed shots. Ohlde fouled Lauren who put down both free throws. All tied up at 18 apiece. Tulsa surprisingly scrappy.

SEA 18 – 18 TUL

Interval
Swin Cash Superfan award winner announced.

Second Quarter
Interesting lineup to start – Tanisha, Jana, Svet, Swin, and Camille. Not the best start, however – missed shots and sloppy defense, culminating in a shot clock turnover. Agler’s head exploded at that point - BOOM! - and he called a timeout. That’s the most, um, “animated” I’ve seen him in a long time. SR scored, and Svet committed a costly foul that resulted in Crossley hitting a three. All of a sudden, Storm down by five.

That mistake, however, really lit a fire under our favorite Russian, and she went nuts from behind the arc. Swish. Swish. Swish. Swish. Latta scored a jumper and a +1 off of a “foul” from Sue. In the midst of this, Svet was also whistled for traveling and Agler had his best basilisk stare going on. I don’t know who he was glaring at, Svet or the ref – I’m just glad he wasn’t looking at me. One of Svet’s threes was off of an AWESOME feed by T, who was driving for a layup and fed Svet instead. Honestly, the way she was shooting, you’d think the basket was twelve feet across.

After she hit her fourth, Richardson finally called a timeout to make adjustments (ya think?). SR scored again. Sue missed a three, but Le’coe grabbed the rebound and made a jumper. SR drove to the basket again, but Swin blocked her shot. Svet turned the ball over (wince) and Holt scored a layup. Another stagnant interval, and then the Storm seemed to find themselves – Lauren hit a jumper, Swin put down an awesome three, and Camille hit a layup. Due credit must go to Swin, who rebounded every Tulsa miss during that interval – she was a one-woman boards machine.

JL hit a turnaround jumper and Camille made one of two free throws (again) off of a foul on Holt.

SEA 40 – 32 TUL

Halftime
Very fun-looking Zumba fitness dance routine, done by dozens of women in pink tops and black pants. It did look a bit like the Race for the Cure, though, with all of that pink flying around. Doppler and Jason tried out their Zumba moves. Um, Jason? The eighties called and they want their warm-up suit back. Truly a hot pink horror.

The Storm has hit 167 three this season, including SEVEN Sunday night, so Carter Subaru will be planting a small forest. Oklahoma only shooting 36%.

New PA announcement about fighting and bad behavior – I could swear I heard the announcer end it with, “…can be subject to possible ejection and arrest, plus it just isn’t very nice.” Can anyone confirm? If so, that’s pretty funny!

Third Quarter
More missed shots on both ends, but it got clicking when Swin stole the ball from SR and got it to T who fed Lauren on a very nice running layup. Back into our chairs. SR missed a three and Lauren snatched the rebound. Seattle worked their offense, ran the clock down and T scored a step-back jumper at the very last second. Happy fans.

Tulsa seemed to have left their game in the locker room, as they couldn’t buy a shot and the Storm just smacked them around. I understand from Swish Appeal that their third quarter is problematic, and if they’re all like this one, I can see why. Sue scored. Camille scored. Lauren hit a three. LE’COE hit a three. Storm up by 22 with 4:39 to go. Richardson called timeouts and made substitutions, but nothing seemed to work. Crossley finally hit a three, but Lauren answered back with a layup. Crossley hit another three, and Agler wisely called a timeout. Yes, Coach Richardson, THAT’S when you call a timeout – you don’t let the hot shooter walk all over you without talking it over!

Swin hit a nice jumper. Scoreless interval for a bit. Good defense by the Storm, although we missed a rebound or two. Hornbuckle, who does not look like her old self at all, put up a three. Le’coe grabbed the board. On the other end, Sue missed a three, and Le’coe grabbed that board, and put it back in. Crossley hit yet another three, but Svet answered her right back. WOOOT!!! Storm up by 28!!! Jana played excellent defense on Marion Jones. It’s funny, because I always thought Jones was huge and well-built – which she is, for a sprinter – but next to the Shock and Storm players, she looked short and almost fragile. KB hit a jumper.

SEA 63 – 43 TUL

Interval
Anchorman Movie Magic clip. Nice acting from Swin. I'd probably say she's the frontrummer for the Stormy award so far this year.

Fourth Quarter
Hello, bench! Alison and A-Rob in, along with Sue, Jana and LJ. Crossley scored. Jana hit a nice jumper. Latta missed a three. A-Rob snatched the board, drew a foul on KB. Alison missed a jumper. Rebound Crossley. Ohlde put up a jumper, but Jana blocked her shot, grabbed the board and fed LJ for two.

Timeout
Ride the train

Lauren and Sue sat and Le’coe and T came in. Missed shots. Jana stole the ball again and hit a layup. This year’s team seems to be rocking the steals! The Storm forced a shot clock turnover. Hornbuckle fouled in retaliation and was whistled for a T! Ah, I knew the old Detroit was lurking in there somewhere. Alison sank the FT. Abby came in. ALL benchies in, except for T, who shortly sat when Svet came in.

A few minutes later, a great play happened that I really think sums up this team. There was a loose ball on the floor and Svet DOVE for it, hitting the deck hard, and outjumped Crossley in the ensuing jump ball. There we were, up by 27, and our sixth (or seventh) starter was diving to the floor like a maniac. Leave no stone unturned.

Alison hit two free throws off of a KB foul. More missed shots. Good defense. Some gorgeous A-Rob rebounds and a block. She had two good looks and about five bad ones. She does, however, know the plays very well, and did a great job directing traffic on complicated offensive sets. Abby hit two free throws off of a Hornbuckle foul. Tulsa put up some good points, including a nice Crossley three, but ran out of time. Ridiculously, Svet fouled out with about a second to go, so Le’coe came in for the last play of the game.

Final score: SEA 75 – 59 TUL

Notes
Svet was the player of the game, and was HYSTERICAL.

Agler seemed happier as the game wore on.

Abby put up a three at one point and Lauren led the entire bench in jumping to her feet, but, alas, no go.

Alison has nice ball-handling moves, and did okay calling plays, but the deep bench, with the exception of A-Rob, sometimes looked as if they didn’t know where to go. Good free throw shooting, Alison.

T only scored five points, but had six assists and an awesome +27 efficiency rating. Sue only scored six points, but also had six assists and was right behind her at +23.

Lauren, Svet and Swin all in double figures and Lauren was just one board away from a double-double.

Very nice game – all the nicer, because the starters got some good REST! On to Phoenix.

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