SEATTLE — Under head coach Brian Agler, the Seattle Storm primarily have been known for two things — defense and their ability to shoot the ball from the perimeter. Friday, the latter was missing.
The Storm were held without a 3-point field goal for just the third time in franchise history and lost at home 67-58 to Tulsa, giving the Shock their first victory in five tries this season.
“We just didn’t knock down shots tonight,” guard Tanisha Wright said. “Even more importantly, we were flat. We didn’t come out with any type of intensity. It’s a wasted game because this was a winnable game for us.”
Despite shooting 0-for-17 from beyond the 3-point line, the Storm were never really out of the game. They led briefly in the third quarter and stayed within striking distance of Tulsa throughout the second half. But when they needed a 3-pointer most in the game’s final minutes, nothing would fall.
“We had some pretty looks,” Storm head coach Brian Agler said. “I couldn’t really think that we took too many bad 3-point shots. We had some open looks, they just didn’t go down.”
Tina Thompson, one of the most prolific 3-point shooters in WNBA history missed all four of her attempts. Guard Noelle Quinn missed four of her own, as did Wright. Temeka Johnson and Shekinna Stricklen each missed two and Camille Little missed one.
Despite the historically bad shooting effort, Johnson said the team never lost faith in one another.
“When you are a shooter you never stop shooting,” she said. “You believe that the next one is going to go in. Any of our people on this team, if they miss 17, I’m going to pass it to them again because the 18th one is going in.”
After the game, Thompson said her own poor perimeter shooting has been something that has plagued her in the Storm’s first three games of the season.
“I haven’t been making them, period,” Thompson said. “We have had like three games and I don’t think my percentage is very high. It’s not like I don’t shoot and I’m not getting up shots. I couldn’t particularly tell you at this point what it is because if I knew I would be making them.”
While certainly not at its best, defense kept the Storm in the game. Seattle held the Shock to 42.6 percent (23-for-54) from the field and 28.6 percent (4-for-14) from 3-point range. The Shock opened up the game by making their first six shots from the field before the Storm clamped down. It followed a similar pattern to Sunday’s victory over Phoenix when the Storm allowed the Mercury to go on an early run, before the defense started to get stops and get Seattle back in the game.
“I don’t think we have developed any kind of consistency yet one way or the other,” Agler said. “I do think defensively, even though we didn’t give up many points, that we just weren’t as sharp as we can be and have shown. That being said, when you give up 67 points you should have an opportunity to win that game.”
Despite not making a three, Thompson finished 7-for-13 from the field with 17 points to lead the Storm. Johnson chipped in 13.
Glory Johnson scored 17 to lead the Shock. In her first professional game in Seattle, the league’s No. 2 overall draft pick Skylar Diggins scored 12 points and had three rebounds and three assists.
Aaron Lommers covers the Seattle Storm for The Herald. Follow him on twitter @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
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