Thompson leads Comets to first win of season

HOUSTON (AP)—Tina Thompson had 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Houston Comets to their first win of the season, 75-72 win over the San Antonio Silver Stars on Tuesday night.

Rookie guard Matee Ajavon added 15 points, included six in the closing minutes that helped Houston put to rest any talk of repeating last season’s franchise-worst 0-10 start.

The Comets (1-5) lost their previous four games by a combined 17 points, but improved to 14-6 all-time against the Silver Stars franchise that used to play its games in Utah as the Starzz.

Michelle Snow and Tamecka Dixon added 12 and 11 points, respectively, for the Comets, who improved to 1-1 at home.

Becky Hammon led San Antonio (2-3) with 20 points and Sophia Young, who tweaked her knee in the game, added 15 on 4-of-12 shooting.

The Comets trailed 64-62 with 6:09 to go before Thompson ignited a 10-2 run that gave Houston a 72-66 lead with 3:41 to go.

Erin Buescher added 10 points and five rebounds for the Silver Stars before fouling out with less than three minutes remaining.

San Antonio, which committed 16 turnovers, fell to 0-3 on the road this season and has lost three of its last four games against the Comets.

The Silver Stars led 33-25 with 3:52 left in the second quarter after Edwige Lawson-Wade made the second of back-to-back 3-pointers. But the Comets rallied with a 17-2 run to close out the half and took a 39-35 lead to the locker room.

Thompson scored seven points during the rally for the Comets, who held the Silver Stars without a field goal after Lawson-Wade’s 3-pointers.

Houston started the third quarter with a 8-2 run to take a 47-37 lead before Buescher hit another San Antonio 3-pointer after the team called their first timeout of the half.

That ignited a 14-4 run that tied the game when Hammon hit her fourth 3-pointer of the game with 3:33 left in the third.

Lynx rally to beat Comets 98-92 in OT

HOUSTON (AP)—Seimone Augustus scored 25 points and Nicky Anosike added 20 more to help the Minnesota Lynx beat the Houston Comets

98-92 in overtime Tuesday night in Houston’s home opener.

Augustus finished with nine rebounds and four assists and the Lynx erased a 12-point deficit in the last five minutes of regulation and forced overtime when Augustus hit an easy basket with 26.8 seconds left.

In the last 15 seconds of the fourth quarter, the Comets’ Erica White turned the ball over but the Lynx could not get a shot off.

Minnesota then scored six of the first eight points in overtime, including four by Anosike in the first 2:57.

Anna De Forge added 19 points and six rebounds for the Lynx (2-0), who are off to their best start since 1999.

Tina Thompson had 20 points and nine rebounds as the Comets fell to 0-3 for the second straight season.

Mwadi Mabika and Sancho Lyttle added 14 points each for Houston, which had 17 turnovers.

The Comets led 26-17 after the first quarter as Thompson carved up the Lynx for 10 points in the first 12 minutes. But Minnesota, playing its first road game of the season, responded with a 10-0 run to start the second quarter and took its first lead when Noelle Quinn made an easy layup with 6:31 left in the half.

But as quickly as that lead disappeared, it returned. Mabika scored eight points in a 15-0 Houston run that Shannon Johnson capped by making a long 3 with 2:43 left.

The Lynx got back in the game with an 8-0 run and made it 45-37 on a last-second layup by Vanessa Hayden-Johnson as time expired in the first half.

Shock open WNBA season with victory over Comets

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP)—Alexis Hornbuckle won a national championship in her last game. On Saturday, she moved to the pro level without missing a beat.

In her WNBA debut, the Tennessee star had eight points and a franchise-record seven steals to help the Detroit Shock beat the Houston Comets 85-66 in the season opener.

“I knew I had to be ready to play, and I just wanted to give us some energy and defense,” Hornbuckle said. “I was over-thinking things early on, but I settled down.”

Hornbuckle helped the Lady Volunteers defend their NCAA title last month. She had a game-winning jumper in the semifinals, so her teammates weren’t surprised by her performance.

Katie Smith scored 21 points and Plenette Pierson added 17 to lead the Shock, who have played in the WNBA finals in three of the last five seasons.

“She was great, but coming from Tennessee, we knew she was used to playing at a high level,” Smith said.

Hornbuckle got extra playing time because Deanna Nolan was limited to 17 minutes by a sore ankle. Nolan got hurt while playing in Russia, and spent most of the second half on the bench.

“I thought it was extraordinary that she was able to get on the floor at all,” said Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer. “She couldn’t get it loose after the half, so we had to sit her.”

Laimbeer chose to start Elaine Powell at point guard and move Smith to Swin Cash’s vacated small-forward spot.

“I like Plenette in that role, and I thought E.P. did a great job,” he said. “We might stay with that group, but it depends on Nolan’s ankle and the matchups.”

Tina Thompson led Houston with 17 points, and Mwadi Mabika and Matee Ajavon added 12 each.

“Detroit’s a good team—they’ve been to the finals, and they’ve won several times, so you have to come out and play them hard,” Thompson said. “We didn’t do that.”

The Shock took control with a 20-1 run that stretched between the third and fourth quarters.

“We looked a little confused with some of our defensive assignments in the first half, but I thought we really settled down in the third quarter,” Laimbeer said. “We got some steals and we didn’t give them any second shots.”

The Comets finished with 23 turnovers, leading to 25 Detroit points, and allowed 20 offensive rebounds.

“Detroit did a great job defensively, and they played a very physical game,” Houston coach Karleen Thompson said. “But we need to work on our chemistry as a team. It’s basically just effort—that was a big thing tonight.”