Storm’s Cash leads West to victory in WNBA All-Star game

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — It was quite a weekend for Swin Cash.

Cash enjoyed a reunion with her former college teammates, scored an All-Star game record 22 points, and captured the MVP award after she helped the Western Conference get back on the winning track in a 130-118 victory over the East on Saturday.

“This afternoon was just great,” said Cash, one of five former UConn players in the game. “I was humbled to win the MVP. I want to thank my teammates not only for passing me the ball, but encouraging me in the fourth quarter to go out there and keep being aggressive.”

Nicole Powell had 21 points, Diana Taurasi added 18 and Sue Bird had 16 for the West in the WNBA’s highest scoring All-Star game. Bird also had 10 of the West’s 34 assists, both record marks.

Cash — who played for the Huskies with Taurasi, Bird, and the East’s Asjha Jones — shot 10 for 16 from the field and added six rebounds and four assists. Her 10 baskets also set an All-Star game mark.

“I look at it as a step in the right direction,” said Cash, who had back surgery in March that forced her to miss most of training camp. “I don’t feel that I’m at the point where I’m playing my best basketball. … I have room for improvement and that’s my focus, to get better every day.”

Sylvia Fowles scored 17 points, Jia Perkins had 16, and Alana Beard 14 for the East. Shameka Christon, Erika DeSouza and Candice Dupree added 12 each.

“It’s fun,” the East’s Tamika Catchings said. “When you look at a game like this, you can critique all the things you did wrong. But a lot of us came into this with a game the day before. To have the All-Star experience is a joy overall.”

Both teams had their highest-scoring outputs, combining to break the record set in the West’s 122-99 victory in 2005 — also at the Mohegan Sun Arena. The East’s previous high was 103 points in 2007.

The West, which won the first six midseason contests before losing the last two, shot 52 percent, including 18 for 39 (46 percent) on 3-pointers. The 18 3s also set a record, along with Powell’s five and the combined 29 for both teams.

“I’m glad the West was able to finally get another victory,” Bird said. “This All-Star game was definitely about scoring. Throwing that thing up. Nicole (Powell) did a great job, that’s what she does.”

Fowles had a crowd-pleasing dunk with 15 seconds left. The teams cleared the way for her with about 30 seconds to go but she missed her first attempt.

“Sue (Bird) looked at me with these big eyes like, ‘Are you ready to do it? Are you ready to do it?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah!’” the 6-foot-6 Chicago Sky star said. “I was excited about it that I had a chance to do it in front of the fans and let them see that I can actually dunk.”

The score was close until the final minute of the third quarter when the West began to pull away. Cash made two free throws, Charde Houston — another former UConn star — added two more, and Bird hit a 3-pointer in a 34-second span for a 99-92 lead.

Sophia Young had a jumper, and Houston made a driving layup in the opening minute of the fourth quarter to stretch the West’s advantage to 103-93.

Dupree hit a 3, and Beard had a layup to pull the East to 105-100 with 7:51 to go, but that was as close as it got.

Powell, a late roster addition in place of the injured Lisa Leslie, made consecutive 3s to push the West’s lead to 113-102 with 4:10 left.

After DeSouza’s layup pulled the East within eight 34 seconds later, Cash had a layup with 3:15 left to restore the West’s double-digit lead for good. The margin grew to 14 twice in the final minutes.

“You’re playing with the best players in the world and we’re just out there having fun,” Beard said. “If we would have buckled down a little bit more defensively we could have won the game.”

Leslie (2001), Tina Thompson (2002) and Deanna Nolan (2005) shared the previous All-Star game record of 20 points.

Cash scored 14 points in the first half to help the West take a 63-60 lead at the break. Beard led the East with 12.