By Wendy Carpenter
The News Tribune
TACOMA – The Seattle Storm got 50 percent of it right on Thursday night in their fourth and final exhibition game.
Eight seconds into the contest at Pacific Lutheran University’s Olsen Auditorium, Lauren Jackson hit a 4-foot jump shot, giving Seattle a lead it relinquished only once in the first half.
The Storm made four of their first 3-pointers, and played tough defense against a physical Sacramento team. But the 50 percent after halftime was where the Storm struggled before falling to the Monarchs, 77-71.
“In the second half we just didn’t come out with the same high intensity,” Seattle guard Semeka Randall said. “We’ve got some things to work on, we know that.”
The Storm’s defense changed dramatically after the break. The Monarchs, who shot 57.1 from the field, had a lot more open shots in the second half, and were up by as much as 12 points with 4:07 remaining. Meanwhile, Seattle’s offense started waning.
“Sacramento was a physical, aggressive team,” Seattle coach Lin Dunn said. “I thought we played well in spurts. We also didn’t do some of the things that we have done in these other games.”
What the Storm has done in their other games is win two – against Utah and Sacramento last Saturday – and fall by two points to the Starzz at KeyArena on Sunday.
But it could have been much worse for Seattle. With 1:26 left in the game, Sue Bird got hurt under the Storm’s basket, suffering a deep thigh contusion to her left quadriceps. Dunn started to pull her out of the game, but Bird had to go back to shoot free throws, both of which she made. Dunn wanted to put her back in, but Seattle trainer Sheri Hedlund recommended Bird sit for the rest of the game.
“Everyone is telling me that it’s going to hurt (today),” Bird said. “But it’s going to be something that’s going to annoy me for about a week and then should be OK. I’m planning on practicing on Saturday.”
The Storm, which open their season May 30 against New York at KeyArena, are taking today off.
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