Storm
Notebook: East's balance has West uneven

By Keith Dunlap
Special to The Seattle Times

Deanna Nolan led four Shock players in double figures.

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Something very eerie and strange is going with the WNBA standings these days. There seems to have been an unusual shift in conference balance.

"Historically in the WNBA, the Eastern Conference has had a clear top four and five and then it bottoms out," Storm coach Anne Donovan said. "In the past, it's been the West that's been pretty balanced top to bottom. It's been a little different this year."

No kidding.

Entering yesterday's game with the Storm, the Detroit Shock, the defending WNBA champion, was struggling with an 8-8 record but was just 1½ games out of first place in the East.

Last-place New York entered yesterday just 2½ games behind East-leading Charlotte in the six-team conference that, including the Shock's victory last season, has produced just two league champions.

By contrast, Phoenix, the third-place team in the West, found itself 3½ games behind first-place Los Angeles.

Player of the game: Shock guard Deanna Nolan scored 21 points and helped hold Storm guard Betty Lennox scoreless on 0-for-6 shooting. Reserve of the game: Storm backup center Janell Burse led all bench players with six points, scoring five in 10 first-half minutes. Digits: Detroit won its third straight game over the Storm. Lauren Jackson scored 18 points, snapping her string of scoring 20 points or more at four games. After going 0-3 on an East Coast trip, the Storm is now 2-4 against Eastern Conference teams and 8-3 against the West. The Shock will visit KeyArena on Sep. 8. Next: San Antonio, 7 p.m. Tuesday, at KeyArena

The new balance in the East has had an effect on the Storm, which is now 2-4 against the East and 8-3 against the West.

"Some of the weaker teams have picked up better players through the draft, through trades, and they're just more competitive," Donovan said. "When Detroit wins a championship, that the means the bottom of the East better get stronger."

Bird and Cash, together again

Storm guard Sue Bird is used to reuniting with college teammates, as there are a plethora of former Connecticut players in the WNBA, but she admitted it's a little different when playing Detroit and getting together with Shock forward Swin Cash, whom she roomed with for three years in college.

Saying she was exhausted from back-to-back games, Bird said she took a rain check on hanging out with Cash when the Storm arrived in Detroit on Friday. But she planned to make it up to her former teammate last night.

"She's going to show me her apartment and stuff like that," Bird said, "although last time I was here when it was time for her to take me home, she didn't know where the hotel was."

Note

• Yesterday's game featured five of the eight Louisiana Tech alums on WNBA rosters in Detroit's Cheryl Ford, Ayana Walker and Amisha Carter and Seattle's Betty Lennox and Trina Frierson.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

E-mail this article

Print this article

Search archive

More sports headlines...