HOUSTON — Things worsened for the Storm yesterday.

Forward Iziane Castro Marques was suspended for last night's game against Houston for allegedly throwing a punch in a game.

Wade Morehead, WNBA senior director of basketball operations, ruled after reviewing videotape from the Minnesota loss Sunday that Castro Marques closed her fist and threw a punch at Lynx forward Svetlana Ambrosimova's head with 15:24 left in the second half. No foul was called on the play, and no fine was assessed.

Storm coach Anne Donovan said she spent most of yesterday afternoon on the phone with Morehead contesting the suspension. Donovan contended that Castro Marques was fighting to break free of Ambrosimova's hold of her jersey on a rebound and swung her arm down, and that her fingers were not closed into a fist and the contact was incidental.

"[It] did not go down the way the league is saying it happened," Donovan said. "It's a foul maybe, but an intentional, flagrant foul, definitely not. ... But the league's contention is because the fist was closed and there was contact with the head, that it's an automatic suspension."

Forward Alicia Thompson started last night in place of Castro Marques.

Burse ailing

Center Janell Burse sprained her right ankle in shootaround yesterday and started the game wearing an air cast. She played three minutes, scoring once and turning the ball over twice, before being replaced by Suzy Batkovic.

"It's like what else?" said Burse, who has been inconsistent this season. "I'm in a lot of pain, but I know I need to play good. We're dropping games, we're missing Izzi. I think I'm way more frustrated than anybody, then the ankle on top of all of that."

Burse finished with 10 points and six rebounds in 27 minutes before fouling out.

Yesterday's box

SEATTLE
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
AThompson	29	2-5	0-0	2-4	1	2	4
Jackson	21	2-4	1-2	2-7	0	2	6
Burse	27	4-6	2-4	2-6	0	6	10
Lennox	29	4-15	2-2	2-4	1	2	12
Bird	33	5-13	0-0	0-0	7	1	13
Batkovic	18	6-10	4-5	1-5	3	6	16
Wright	13	0-5	0-0	1-1	1	2	0
Edwards	14	2-5	0-1	0-5	0	0	4
Zara	15	1-2	0-0	1-2	1	0	2
Vodopyanova	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Totals		26-65	9-14	11-34	14	21	67

Percentages: FG .400, FT .643. Three-point goals: 6-11, .545 (Bird 3-4, Lennox 2-4, Jackson 1-2, A.Thompson 0-1). Team rebounds: 7. Team Turnovers: 12 (8 PTS). Blocked shots: 6 (Jackson 3, Burse 2, Batkovic). Turnovers: 12 (Bird 3, Burse 3, Lennox 2, Jackson, A.Thompson, Batkovic, Zara). Steals: 1 (Burse). Technical fouls: None.

HOUSTON
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Swoopes	40	5-15	9-10	2-5	9	1	21
Rasmussen	18	0-2	0-0	2-3	1	2	0
Snow	38	4-8	3-4	3-11	3	2	11
Canty	32	5-14	2-4	2-4	3	1	12
Arcain	31	5-12	1-2	1-5	1	3	11
Phillips	14	2-4	1-2	3-7	1	5	5
Goodson	11	2-4	0-0	1-2	0	0	4
Lyttle	11	2-2	0-1	0-0	0	0	4
Lawson	5	1-2	0-0	0-0	0	0	3
Totals		26-63	16-23	14-37	18	14	71

Percentages: FG .413, FT .696. Three-point goals: 3-3, 1.000 (Swoopes 2-2, Lawson 1-1). Team rebounds: 10. Team Turnovers: 9 (6 PTS). Blocked shots: 7 (Snow 4, Swoopes 2, Phillips). Turnovers: 9 (Arcain 2, Swoopes 2, Phillips 2, Snow, Lyttle, Rasmussen). Steals: 6 (Arcain 3, Swoopes 2, Snow). Technical fouls: None.

Seattle	29	38 — 67
Houston	35	36 — 71

Attendance: 5,610 (10,057). Time: 2:01. Officials: Bryan Enterline, Teresa Dahlem, Felicia Grinter.