Storm face off with suddenly hot Stars (Aug 18, 2017)
On Wednesday, the Seattle Storm stunned the best team in the WNBA at the last second.
After knocking off the Minnesota Lynx in dramatic fashion, Seattle hosts the league-worst San Antonio Stars on Friday night at Key Arena. The Stars enter with a 1-12 road record.
The Storm (12-16) are on their first winning streak since getting four consecutive victories May 14-28. They followed up a 98-89 victory at Phoenix on Saturday with a gritty 62-61 win over Minnesota.
In Seattle's most impressive win of the season, the Storm executed the pressure defense implemented by new coach Gary Kloppenburg perfectly. They held the Lynx to 33 percent shooting, including a combined 10-of-31 showing from Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles.
"I think down the stretch, crunch time, we got some key stops that we had to get," Kloppenburg said. "I think if you're playing hard and you're battling every possession, you create your own luck."
Seattle is 2-0 since Kloppenburg replaced Jenny Boucek on Aug. 10. The team lost 15 of 21 games before deciding to make the change.
The Storm topped the Lynx despite playing without Sue Bird, who missed the game due to left knee soreness. With Bird watching from the bench, Crystal Langhorne hit the go-ahead layup with 11.1 seconds remaining.
"When Klopp stepped up as the head coach, we looked at it as an eight-game season," said Storm forward Breanna Stewart, who totaled 12 points and 11 rebounds Wednesday. "We have eight games to prove ourselves and get ourselves back in the mix of things. That's what we're doing."
Now the Storm must avoid succumbing to an opponent playing better of late despite a 7-22 record.
The Stars are 4-1 in their past five games and are doing well offensively. San Antonio is averaging 82.8 points this month, and one of those games was an 87-80 overtime home victory against the Storm on Aug. 5
Kelsey Plum scored 23 points in the OT win. The former University of Washington star is averaging 7.7 points heading into her second appearance in Seattle as a pro. She was held to eight points on 2-of-11 shooting in a 75-57 loss at Seattle on June 18.
San Antonio is coming off an 84-68 victory over the Atlanta Dream on Saturday. Isabelle Harrison scored 13 of her 23 points in the third quarter and displayed a dominating inside presence by making 10 of 12 shots as the Stars shot 52.4 percent.
"I just wanted to focus on my defense and let that lead into my offense," Harrison said. "We just had a lot of opening scoring positions from the high post. Coach was talking to me before the game about it, so I just wanted to take advantage of that."
