Top > Sport > 2004 > September > 2004-09-28

Storm looking to advance

Small wonder the Seattle Storm were feeling good about themselves as they jetted home Saturday afternoon.

Behind them was a 70-58 victory against the Minnesota Lynx in the opener of their WNBA best-of-3 Western Conference semifinal playoff series. In front of them is a chance to wrap up that series tonight in KeyArena.

Presumably, after the 6:30 tip-off, all-everything forward Lauren Jackson won`t be saddled with three quick fouls that left her bench-bound for the final 16 ? minutes of Saturday`s first half. (Jackson still wound up with a team-leading 14 points.)

And shooting guard Betty Lennox will have shaken off the effects of a mild concussion sustained late in that same first half which sidelined her for the rest of the day.

``We get to take it to KeyArena, but now, we`ll be playing against a team that is basically playing for their lives,`` Storm guard Sue Bird said after Saturday`s game. ``This was a good win for us. We`ll take it no matter how we can get it. But now, we have to forget about it and move on to the next game.``

Another quietly productive outing from forward Sheri Sam and an unusually productive one from the reserves helped give the Storm their first franchise playoff victory and put them in position to secure their first series triumph.

Sam nearly pulled off a triple-double with 11 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. The subs contributed 23 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, and even four blocked shots.

``(Sam) was awesome,`` Bird said. ``She`s the type of player that can really put us on her back when she has to. In the second half, she knew getting to the rim was going to help us, and she did that.``

A dozen of the points and eight of the rebounds from the benchers came during the final 16:22 of the first half after Jackson went out with her third foul. And by halftime, the Storm had turned a six-point deficit into an eight point lead, with reserves Janell Burse, Simone Edwards, Alicia Thompson and Michelle Greco supplying one bucket apiece during a 16-2 scoring spree.

``I knew they were capable of what they did,`` Storm coach Anne Donovan said. ``They just haven`t been showing it lately. ... We were able to grab the momentum back and take that into the locker room. That really helped us a lot starting out the second half.``

The Key has been friendly to the Storm this season. Seattle went 13-3 here, including an 88-85 victory against Minnesota in the home opener on May 20. The Lynx were 7-10 on the road.

``It`s going to be tough for us to lose at home,`` said Jackson, who played with the added burden of knowing that her grandmother, whom she went home to Australia to visit earlier this month (missing three games) had died on Friday morning.

Home or away, this clearly is a different team than the one which Jackson led to the playoffs in 2002.

``Two years ago, it was almost like we didn`t have a chance when we played L.A,`` Jackson said of the Sparks` two-game sweep. ``This year, I feel like we earned our spot, just like we earned this win.``