Stars break losing streak, Storm continue skid
The San Antonio Stars (7-16) broke a four-game losing streak with an 88-81 victory over the Seattle Storm (5-17) Saturday night at Freeman Coliseum.
The Stars’ lead grew to as many as 17 in the first half after four threes from Kayla McBride and seven Storm turnovers in the first quarter alone.
At the half, the Stars led 43-34. The Storm’s offense improved in the third quarter when they outscored the Stars 24-20 .However, it was not enough as the San Antonio edged the Strom 25-23 in the fourth.
Jia Perkins led San Antonio with 32 points and five assists. She is averaging 18.1 points per game since back her return from injury. McBride added 20 points and Sophia Young-Malcolm contributed 14 points plus seven rebounds. Danielle Adams finished with 10 points and four rebounds.
Crystal Langhorne paced Seattle with 29 points and four rebounds. Jewell Loyd scored 16 points along with four rebounds and Ramu Tokashiki added 14 plus 4 assists.
During the game the Stars wore pink uniforms as part of the league’s Breast Health Awareness Week. Team activities included sending a a mobile mammography unit around San Antonio all week to offer free exams and a postgame pink jersey auction.
The Stars travel to Minnesota to face the top team in the West on Tuesday. The Storm go west to face Los Angeles on the same day.
Notes
- The Stars held Seattle to its second-lowest three-point field-goal percentage on the season (18.2).
- San Antonio’s Kayla McBride saw a career-high six three-pointers made, one shy of the San Antonio franchise record. Her previous career-high was four three-pointers made, which she tied on six separate occasions.
- Danielle Robinson led the Stars in assists, for the 17th time this season, with eight on the night. Previous to tonight, she was third in the league with 5.2 assists per game. She is one of three players in the league to be averaging at least 10 points and five assists.
- With the loss, the Storm lost their 10th consecutive road game. Seattle is now 0-12 when an opponent scores over 75 points.
- Seattle’s Sue Bird recorded a season-high 13 assists, one shy from her career-high. In her last six games she has recorded 42 assists. Previous to this game, her 5.3 assists per game was second in the league.
Quotes
Stars Head Coach Dan Hughes
On tonight’s overall performance
“Looking at the game, as we expected, we got a lead and the Storm fought back. It was good to see us answer the runs. I thought the ball moved well today. I thought Perkins was the key, when we needed a key basket. She seemed to be there for us in those situations and that was good to see coming out of it. Any time you have a Sue Bird led team, they’re not going to die. They’re going to come at you and they did.”
On close game performances
“I think it’s like anything, it’s how we play. I thought we did pretty good today. I felt like we understood that we have to answer their runs. As long as the ball moves, from an offensive standpoint, there’s going to be a possibility for us. We got enough people back that can score. Defensively, I wasn’t pleased in certain things today, but I was pleased how we guarded the three and I was pleased that we were a little more disruptive. Offensively, I thought we played a good basketball game so I had a pretty good feeling that if the ball continued to move, they would find Perkins, they would find McBride, and Sophia. ”
On implication of breast cancer awareness
“There’s a couple things. The breast health awareness is the absolute best thing I’ve ever been involved with in sports, I’ve told the girls and I’ve been in the league 16-17 years. Being able to play the game with that as the title, so to speak, to see the people here and to understand that we all have struggles. This team’s had a lot of adversity, but how about those people that contract cancer, fight it, through all of the things and they’re sitting their cheering for us. Those are heroes. Those are people that show you the grit to live. We ask players to do it. This is a whole other level. This is always my favorite game and they was no way I was going to miss this game.”
Stars forward Jia Perkins
On her overall performance
“We did whatever we had to do. It’s not always going to be me every night, it’s not going to be Kayla, Sophia, just whoever’s number is called we just want to be there and be able to finish”
On maintaining the lead
“Honestly, I didn’t even remember that they tied it. I know they got close, but we stayed poised and we hit some big shots when we needed to. It was frustrating not getting that win on the road so we needed this and we fought hard for it.”
On breast cancer awareness
“This event and this night is bigger than basketball. There’s a lot of survivors and people still fighting for their lives so we want to go out there and give them a show and take their mind off what they’re going through and just give them some kind of entertainment. They stay in our prayers, we pray for them and for health and whoever has a family member going through that as well. So it was bigger than basketball tonight. We hope they enjoyed it and got away from what they’re going through.”
Storm head coach Jenny Boucek
On overcoming the Star’s fast start
“I don’t know if we did a whole lot different. I think just the law of averages. They cooled off a little bit. And unfortunately Jia (Perkins) got really hot in the fourth.”
On Crystal Langhorne’s offensive performance
“She really got it going. Give our team credit for finding her, getting her open and finding her, and then she did the rest. So it was a good game for Crystal. It’s unfortunate we don’t get the reward.”
On bench scoring in the game
“Well part of it was that we were missing a starter, so one of our players that normally comes off the bench wasn’t coming off the bench. So it was a little bit deceptive. Other than that, our starters we rotate depending on who is playing, who has a rhythm, that kind of stuff. And our starters had a pretty good rhythm most of the game, so they played a little bit more lopsided minutes than they normally do. But part of that was that we were down a starter.”
Storm forward Crystal Langhorne
On her offensive performance in the game
“I just wanted to be aggressive tonight. I feel like my teammates got me the ball in really good positions. And it was one-on-one a lot, so I got to play.”
On her scoring when playing in San Antonio
“Um, I don’t know. I think just the way we play, the way that we want to push the tempo. Sue (Bird) is always looking for me, the guards are always looking for me, so I just really got to be aggressive tonight.”
On their comeback after the Stars opened up a large lead after the first quarter
“We started getting stops, and we started making shots. Early on they were killing us offensively and then we missed a lot of good shots. I think once we started getting the defensive rhythm, we played better.”
By the Numbers
Points in the Paint: Storm 42, Stars 34
Second Chance Points: Storm 2, Stars 2
Fastbreak Points: Storm 14, Stars 16
Biggest Lead: Storm 1, Stars 17
Lead Changes: 2
Times Tied: 1
