Storm continue rolling with win over San Antonio

Eight games into the WNBA season, the Seattle Storm were off to the worst start in the history of the franchise at 1-7.

But it was hard to believe that they were really that bad?

Now it appears they weren’t. It could have been the product of having the toughest schedule in the league or it could have been a product of adjusting to a different roster than they have had in the previous two seasons. Whatever it was. The Storm have started to turn things around.

Seattle has won three consecutive games to improve to 4-7 on the season. Among those wins, an impressive victory over the defending WNBA champion Minnesota Lynx, who were 10-0 before they lost to the Storm.

Seattle’s most recent win came on Friday when they defeated the San Antonio Silver Stars 82-76 at KeyArena. It may not have been the Storm’s most impressive win of the season, but there were a lot of positives to take from the game that would point to the fact that they are headed in the right direction.

Six players scored in double figures for the first time this season led by guard Tanisha Wright, who finished with 20 points. Wright’s ability to penetrate to the basket created several opportunities for her and her teammates.

“She did great,” point guard Sue Bird said of Wright. “She can really break things down. Everything was just stretched wide open for her to get into the lane. I trust her just as much as anybody in this room, if not more. She’s proven herself.”

Wright opened things up for Katie Smith, who scored 13 points and shot 3-for-6 from three-point range and Tina Thompson, who added 12 including 2-for-4 from behind the arc.

Storm head coach Brian Agler is happy to see his team be more aggressive on the offensive end.

“It was good,” Agler said. “I think we’re sharing the ball and everyone contributed. It was good to see our whole team be aggressive in the scoring category.”

The Storm have now played themselves back into contention in the Western Conference, though they still have a ways to go to catch up to Minnesota and Los Angeles. Seattle faces Washington (2-7) Sunday at KeyArena and travel to Washington D.C. to face the Mystics again on Tuesday. If Seattle can continue to play with the same intensity, they could be back at .500 before the end of next week.