Storm get offensive in victory over Sparks

Published 3:13 am Monday, July 11, 2011

The Seattle Storm figured out how to do something that they had been struggling to do all season on Saturday — score the basketball.

Seattle put up a season-high 99, in a 99-80 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks.

“When you shoot the ball and it goes in, it makes your offense a lot be

tter, obviously. What I was happy with was how we were aggressive in the open floor — getting down and trying to score when we had numbers,” Storm coach Brian Agler said. “We shot the ball well from the three-point line, which is a big improvement for this year, and got free throw attempts, which is a big improvement. We haven’t been consistent with that. We’re happy. Hopefully, we can stay on this path.

Forward Swin Cash scored 26 points to lead Seattle, shooting guard Tanisha Wright had 21, point guard Sue Bird added 17, and 2011 addition Katie Smith found her shooting stroke, scoring 13 points.

Cash scored 16 of her 26 points in the third quarter. The Storm scored 32 points in the third.

“Once you get that penetration, then you don’t have as much pressure on the outside. You’re able to penetrate and kick and those are shots that we practice every day in practice,” Cash said. “It was good to see Katie knocking down some shots, T (Wright) getting to the paint and being aggressive. We need that. Hopefully this was the start and we’re going to get off this roller coaster and have another good performance on Tuesday.”

Smith made four of her 10 shots, including 3-for-6 for three-point range.

“I missed enough to start. It always feels good to knock down shots when you get open looks. I haven’t shot the ball real well all season, so it’s nice to get a rhythm going. It was a little bit of a relief to get a couple to go down,” Smith said.

Rookie Jantel Lavender scored 21 points to lead the Sparks.

Seattle returns to action at noon on Tuesday at KeyArena against the Washington Mystics.