Smith scores 33 to lead Shock past Storm, 77-67

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP)—Katie Smith will have several reasons to fondly remember her 34th birthday.

The Detroit Shock All-Star was presented with her U.S. Olympic team jersey before the game, then scored a season-high 33 points in a 77-67 victory over the Seattle Storm Wednesday.

“I didn’t want to go home with a loss on my birthday,” said Smith, who hadn’t scored more than 28 points since joining the Shock in 2005. “I just didn’t hit enough shots to get 34 points on my 34th birthday.”

Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer played Smith for the entire game, then joked that he thought she had fallen short of her milestone.

“I played her all 40 minutes so she could try to score 40 points,” he said. “She did turn 40 today, right?”

The Shock (6-1) stayed unbeaten at home.

“I thought we might start 2-10, given our injuries and lack of practice time, so I’m very happy to be 6-1,” Laimbeer said. “We’ve still got a lot to learn about utilizing our bench, but we’ve been better than I expected.”

Seattle lost for the second straight night after a 5-1 start, but got 27 points from Lauren Jackson.

“We’re not going to make excuses—we had a chance to come in here and win the game, and we didn’t do it,” Seattle coach Brian Agler said. “Katie Smith had a great game and Detroit had a little more to offer than we did tonight.”

Swin Cash had 10 points in her first game against Detroit. The 2004 Olympian played her first five seasons with the Shock, winning two titles, before being traded to the Storm after feuding with Laimbeer.

“It was weird going to the visiting locker room—I stepped off the bus and went to the left before I caught myself,” said Cash, who was warmly greeted by the small Palace crowd. “Once the ball tipped off, it was OK.”

Deanna Nolan added 14 points for the Shock and Cheryl Ford had eight points and 11 rebounds. Both players have played all season through injuries—Nolan sprained her ankle while playing in Russia and Ford is still recovering from last season’s knee injury.

“You have to give Tweety and Cheryl all the credit in the world for playing when they are thing banged up,” Smith said. “That’s why it is a pleasant surprise to be 6-1.”

The Storm led 23-13 early in the second quarter, but Detroit finished the period with a 25-10 surge to take a five-point edge.

The Shock moved the advantage to double figures—47-37—early in the third, helped by a technical foul on Sue Bird.

Seattle pulled within 70-67 on two Jackson free throws with 2:10 left, but Smith answered with a 3-pointer and Detroit hung on.

Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace attended the game, sitting under the basket near the Seattle bench.

Christon scores 25 points in Liberty’s 77-63 win

NEW YORK (AP)—The New York Liberty got off to a fast start and then used a strong finish to pull away from the Seattle Storm.

Shameka Christon matched a career high with 25 points and led the Liberty to a 77-63 victory over the Storm on Tuesday night.

Christon was 9-for-14 from the floor, including 4-for-6 on 3-pointers, and scored 15 in the second half to help the Liberty (2-3) recover after Seattle cut an early 16-point deficit to two at halftime.

“We know they’re a good team,” Christon said. “Of course we dominated the first quarter. You can’t expect a team like that to not to pick it up. Our thing was to come out (in the second half) as if the score was 0-0 and play hard.”

Janel McCarville added 12 points for New York, which had lost five straight meetings against the Storm.

“We came out with a lot of intensity, playing defense and making them turn the ball over, getting stops on the defensive end and our shots falling on the other end,” said Christon, who leads the Liberty in scoring at 15.6 points per game. “It helped that our best defense was them taking the ball out of the net and us being able to set up in our defense.”

Lauren Jackson scored 19 points, Sheryl Swoopes had 15 points and nine rebounds, and Sue Bird added 10 points for Seattle (5-2).

After scoring just six points in the first quarter, the Storm had 30 in the second and pulled within two on Bird’s jumper with 1.8 seconds left before halftime. Seattle tied the score at 38 on Jackson’s layup 46 seconds into the third quarter, and Bird’s layup with 3:54 left in the period gave the Storm their first lead, 44-43.

“We just need to get out to a better start,” Bird said. “Against good teams, especially on the road, you can’t let them jump on you like the Liberty did to us tonight.”

The Liberty moved back ahead for good 15 seconds later on Christon’s three-point play. Rookie Erlana Larkins hit two free throws with 1:33 to go in the third, and Ashley Battle added two more 29 seconds later to push New York’s advantage to 54-48 heading into the fourth.

After Bird’s 3 pulled Seattle to 57-53, the Liberty scored nine consecutive points in a 2:02 span to stretch their lead to 13 on Cathrine Kraayeveld’s 3 with 6:11 to go.

“I think this is the first time we put together four pretty good quarters,” New York coach Pat Coyle said. “That’s something we looked at, the tape, and something we talked about”

The Liberty shot 46 percent from the field (28-for-61), including 9-for-23 on 3s.

Seattle committed a season-high 23 turnovers that led to 27 points for New York.

“Tonight’s turnovers were a result of both us not being as sharp as we could be, and New York being very aggressive,” Storm coach Brian Agler said. “They caused a lot of them. I don’t think we read the defense well at times, I think we were careless with the ball at times, and I think we got in a hurry at times.”

The Storm trailed 22-6 after the first quarter, their third double-digit first-half deficit this season and their lowest scoring period. Seattle was 2-for-8 from the field and 1-for-4 from the line in the quarter.

” It seemed like everything was going their way,” Bird siad. “They were getting loose balls, things like that.”

The six points allowed in the first were the fewest against the Liberty in any quarter this season.

Seattle scored seven points in just 1:45 in the second, pulling to 24-13 on Swoopes’ driving layup. The Storm’s second 7-0 run of the second quarter pulled them to 30-26 on Tanisha Wright’s jumper with 3:46 left in the period.

Storm beat Sky 67-61

SEATTLE (AP)—Lauren Jackson scored 14 points and Sue Bird added 13 points and seven assists and the Seattle Storm beat the Chicago Sky 67-61 in the teams’ season opener on Saturday night.

The Storm (1-0) overcame cold shooting in the first half and went on a 23-1 scoring run—including 12-0 to end the third quarter—to pull ahead.

“In the second half, we just got into the flow and showed some pretty great things,” said Jackson, who had just two points at halftime on 1-for-10 shooting. “When our defense breaks down, it generally takes a toll on our offense. If we get it right defensively, good things will come.”

The Storm, playing their first game under a new ownership group and new coach Brian Agler, featured a significantly revamped lineup that includes reigning league MVP Jackson and past MVPs Sheryl Swoopes and Yolanda Griffith.

Swoopes finished with eight points, four rebounds and two assists. Griffith had eight points and seven rebounds.

The Storm struggled to score in the first half. Seattle shot 29.4 percent (10-for-34) during the first 20 minutes and trailed 35-29 at halftime.

The third-year Sky, who were looking for their first regular-season victory against the Storm in five tries, extended the lead to 38-29 early in the third quarter as Seattle missed its first seven shots after halftime.

Agler called a timeout just 59 seconds into the third.

“I just said, ‘We have to start playing with some poise around the basket. We’re missing a lot of easy shots,”’ Agler said. “And we had to have some consecutive stops on defense.”

The Storm hit 13 of their last 18 shots in the third quarter to get back into the game. They tied it at 47-47 on Jackson’s turnaround 10-footer, and went in front for good when Swoopes stole the ball and hit Bird for a fast-break lay-in.

Seattle extended the lead to 17 points during the fourth when Jackson hit a short shot and the ensuing free throw to cap the 23-1 run.

“We were a little tentative during the first half, not because of a lack of energy, but because you’re in a new system with a lot of new players,” Bird said. “But every day, the more we play together, whether it’s in practice or in games, it’ll come.”

Chicago was led by Chasity Melvin, who came off the bench for 15 points. Jia Perkins added 12. Candice Dupree had seven points and a game-high 10 rebounds for the Sky, who were kept without a field goal for nearly 11 minutes—from 2:47 left in the third quarter to 1:44 left in the game.

The Sky out-rebounded Seattle, 40-34.

Swoopes, formerly of Houston, and Griffith, from Sacramento, signed during the offseason as free agents. Swin Cash, another league All-Star acquired from Detroit in an offseason trade, also had 13 points for Seattle.

All-Star Sue Bird re-signs with Seattle Storm

SEATTLE (AP)—Sue Bird, a five-time All-Star, signed a multiyear contract Friday to remain with the Seattle Storm.

Bird will join league MVP Lauren Jackson and newly signed stars Sheryl Swoopes and Swin Cash on the Storm. Since winning the WNBA title in 2004, Seattle has lost in the first round of the playoffs the last three seasons.

“Seattle is home for me, and I am very excited to be back,” the 27-year-old Bird said. “I can’t wait to get back to Seattle to make another run at a championship.”

Anne Donovan, coach of the national Olympic team, resigned as coach and personnel director in late November after five seasons. After talk of moving the franchise, a group of season-ticket holders bought the Storm in January.

“When I heard the Storm was going to stay in Seattle under local ownership, I knew I wanted to come back,” said Bird, whose 5.6 assists per game ranks second in WNBA history.

“With re-signing Sue, and the addition of Swin Cash and Sheryl Swoopes to the incredibly talented players we already have, I couldn’t be more pleased with how our roster has come together,” said new coach Brian Agler, who is also the director of personnel.