Storm Notebook | Lennox gets back in time to help team get victory

Storm guard Betty Lennox started against Phoenix after speculation she could miss the matchup to deal with a family situation.

Lennox missed practice on Tuesday but returned for shoot-around on Wednesday and the game. She finished with 22 points.

In Seattle's season-opening win Saturday, Lennox scored 13 of her 15 points in the second half as the Storm rallied from a 22-point third-quarter deficit. It was the largest comeback in Storm history.

Lennox declined to speak about her personal issue, only discussing the Mercury game. She had to help defend one of the best backcourts in the WNBA in guards Kelly Miller and Cappie Pondexter.

When asked what she had on Pondexter, who's entering her second season, Lennox quipped, "eight years."

Pondexter finished with 31 points but Miller was held to seven.

Remember me?

All the hubbub in Seattle is about the Sonics nabbing the No. 2 overall pick in June's NBA draft. But Mercury assistant Corey Gaines couldn't get excited for his former organization because of his new ties.

The Sonics drafted Gaines in the third round of the 1988 draft. He played for Mercury coach Paul Westhead at Loyola Marymount and said the coach's up-tempo offensive system has only slightly changed.

"It's exactly the same, except for he may have put in even more shots because you've got women, and as you've seen in college and all the events, they're great shooters," Gaines said. "He loves people who can shoot, so we have a lineup where all five of our starting lineup can shoot threes at any time. It's an advantage to his style of play."

The Mercury gained an outside shooter when it traded its No. 1 overall pick in the draft for Tangela Smith, who replaced Kamila Vodichkova (pregnant) inside. Smith was 0 for 7 from three-point range her first season in Charlotte (2005) and Storm coach Anne Donovan said she thought the player's best days were behind her, especially since Smith was struggling with a left knee injury.

But Smith said she's at home in Phoenix under Westhead, performing more like the player who was a budding All-Star in Sacramento (1998-04).

"I never shot threes because I never knew that I could," said Smith of her early years in the league. "I went overseas and worked on my shot.

"Now I feel really, really comfortable and he [Westhead] wants me to shoot. It's real fun."

Hitting the boards

Storm center Janell Burse had to rebound from a poor opening night where she was 1 for 3 from the field for three points and three rebounds in 13 minutes against Houston.

Burse turned it around in the second game by ... rebounding. She had 10 in the opening quarter, surpassed her career high of 14 with 16 rebounds by halftime and finished with 19, one short of tying the franchise record.