Storm's surge comes too late against Comets

HOUSTON — A season of ups and downs for Seattle continued with another low in a place where the Storm is accustomed to tough times.

Despite a furious fourth-quarter comeback, Seattle had its two-game winning streak snapped in an 81-76 loss to the Houston Comets Thursday night. The Storm suffered its sixth consecutive loss at the Toyota Center and dropped to 7-7.

Trailing 69-55 with less than seven minutes remaining, the Storm went on a 20-8 run to trail 77-75. A questionable foul on Storm guard Sue Bird while defending Tina Thompson on the Comets' next possession resulted in two free throws for Thompson to put the game out of reach.

"I was not trying to foul her that far away from the basket," Bird said. "I was out to contest her and the official blew the whistle. It was a tough call at the end of the game."

It was a tough game all the way around for Bird. Needing only four assists to reach 1,000 for her career, she managed just three. She also had a potential tying three-point shot rim out with 44 seconds left.

Bird took only four shots the entire game and was scoreless.

Lauren Jackson tossed in a game-high 25 points and Betty Lennox added a season-high 23, but it wasn't enough to match a Comets team that had four players score in double figures.

"Somebody else needed to step up," said Storm coach Anne Donovan. "It's tough to win games when you need to spread out your scoring better than we did."

Bird wasn't the only Storm player to struggle from beyond the arc. Seattle hit only 5 of 17 three-point attempts.

Thompson paced Houston with 20 points and Hamchetou Maiga-Ba added 15, but it was the surprise play of Roneeka Hodges that gave the Comets the biggest boost.

Hodges had a season-high 14 points off the bench. Her back-to-back three-pointers midway through the third quarter gave the Comets an 11-point lead after starting the half up by three.

Seattle's bench, which contributed 31 points in a win over Chicago on Tuesday, was outscored by the Comets 23-15.

Despite the loss, Donovan was still happy to see the Storm's fourth-quarter comeback.

"We're not a team that quits or lies down," she said. "We just need to play hard the whole game."