Poor defense, turnovers add to Storm woes

Reality is starting to slip into the Storm's mind.

The team is able to score. And it has the best player in the WNBA.

But it can't play consistent defense. That, along with an ill-timed rash of turnovers were key factors in a 92-88 defeat against San Antonio at KeyArena on Sunday.

The Silver Stars were physical and plucky, collecting 12 steals among the 20 turnovers they forced. Meanwhile, the Storm just griped about fouls not called.

"I told our team that was probably the best game that I've been associated with defensively and we [still] gave up 88 points," said San Antonio assistant coach Brian Agler.

The score was tied at 83 following a driving bucket by Seattle's Lauren Jackson with 2:57 left.

Later, the Storm's Sue Bird tied the score at 88, but the team started fumbling chances.

Iziane Castro Marques' pass inside to Jackson with 35.7 seconds left was bobbled out of bounds as San Antonio's Sophia Young bodied Jackson perfectly inside despite having five fouls.

Stars guard Vickie Johnson seemingly boxed out the entire Storm team to grab an offensive rebound with 16.9 seconds left. Then point guard Becky Hammon provided a cushion, making two free throws to make it 90-86 with 14.7 seconds left. Seattle tried to run a play for Jackson, who scored 29, but Bird threw a bad pass.

"There were two big possessions where we're not getting a shot off, but we're still in the game," said Bird, who had 17 points and five turnovers. "Defense is a concern, but I'm more concerned with our turnovers. We had a lot of bad ones. Defense is always a concern, but turnovers is in our hands and we need to control that."

The Storm's possible playoff berth also is in its hands and it seems to be toying with that, too. Seattle (13-13) has held the fourth and final spot in the Western Conference nearly the entire season and was hoping to get closer to the top Sunday.

Instead San Antonio (16-8) stayed in first while Phoenix (16-10) jumped over Sacramento (14-10) into second with the victory Sunday while the Monarchs lost. The Storm, which is 1-8 in games decided by 10 points or less, plays Sacramento at home Tuesday.

If the postseason were to start today, the Storm would play a best-of-three opening round against the Silver Stars. Seattle has incrementally improved against San Antonio, losing by 11, 10, 7 and four points this season.

"We're a good team and I can't stress that enough," said Hammon, who scored a game-high 30 points but also had a bench that outscored Seattle's reserves 28-2. "They made some tough shots, so you have to give them credit, but I like our chances just as much as anybody's."

Storm coach Anne Donovan didn't lean on her bench in the game that saw 10 ties and neither team leading by more than eight points. Guard Tanisha Wright got the most minutes at 9:53, but mainly the game was up to the starters who all played at least 32 minutes.

The Silver Stars had impressive depth considering that forward Erin Buescher, who normally hurts the Storm, is out for the season with a torn ACL. Marie Ferdinand-Harris simply stepped in and scored a season-high 14 points as teammate Shanna Crossley added her usual 10 to guide the reserves.

"It's our defense," said Seattle guard Betty Lennox, whose team shot an identical 51.6 percent (32 for 62) as San Antonio. "We've got to have heart and fight. We've got to really take our defense seriously. That's what wins games. Offense doesn't win games."

Jayda Evans: 206-464-2067 or jevans@seattletimes.com