Monarchs win, drop Storm below .500

Storm forward Iziane Castro Marques probably wanted to disappear after watching shot after shot by Sacramento's Nicole Powell fall in a 78-74 Seattle loss at KeyArena. In fact, she almost seemed to do that as she squished herself into her locker-room cubicle after Tuesday's game.

Moments earlier, Storm coach Anne Donovan said the Brazilian played well on defense, but shots by Powell still streamed in Castro Marques' mind. Powell seemed to never miss when her team really needed a bucket.

The final shot of her 28-point night was the worst for Seattle — a high-arching, three-pointer over Castro Marques' outstretched hand with a minute remaining and the Storm down by one point.

Powell's shot gave the Monarchs a four-point lead. And despite a turnaround jumper by All-Star Lauren Jackson and a steal by Betty Lennox to keep Seattle close, the Storm botched a final play. The Storm fell to 1-9 in games decided by 10 points or less — a WNBA worst.

"I'm sad because she was a great part of this game," said Castro Marques of Powell, who led her team with 28 points. "She had a great game. I know that I tried.

"This should motivate us for the next game. We have seven more to go, and we know Sacramento and San Antonio will be after us in the playoffs. We need to make sure they know we're going to be there and that they respect us."

The Storm, which fell below .500 for the first time since June 22 at 13-14, still holds the fourth and final playoff berth in the Western Conference. But Seattle is 1-7 against San Antonio, Sacramento and Phoenix — the three teams ahead of it in the standings.The sole win was a 100-87 decision against the Mercury in the second game of the season.

Seattle travels to play Sacramento (15-10) Friday in the final game of that regular-season series and hosts the last game against Phoenix on Saturday.

"We have to make the playoffs, No. 1," said Jackson, whose team has lost seven of its past 10 games. "No. 2, our whole game is going to have to change to make it to the second round."

Donovan drilled the players on facing pressure defense in practice Monday, particularly after having San Antonio's physical play knock them out of their offensive system in a loss Sunday. Yet the Storm was unable to match Sacramento's intensity for a complete game, allowing the Monarchs backcourt to score on fast breaks and the frontcourt to grab offensive rebounds — 17, the most against Seattle this season, including nine by Rebekkah Brunson.

When neither of that worked for Sacramento, Powell simply raced around for shots over Castro Marques. The Storm's defense allowed it to challenge in the fourth quarter, as Seattle outscored the Monarchs 24-16, but Powell scored 11 of her 28 in the period. Six came from the free-throw line.

Not even KeyArena's playoff atmosphere could rattle the Monarchs, who play in equally loud Arco Arena. Sacramento led by as many as 13 in the fourth quarter.

"It's hard to keep them from having runs," said Sacramento coach Jenny Boucek. "We did a good job of making them work for what they got, but this [Seattle] is a great team, we did the best we could."

Jackson, who took painkillers before the game, received good news Tuesday that her MRI results were negative, yet she repeatedly landed on the court, leaving the game to tend to a dinged shoulder, elbow and knee. When asked how her body felt, she said "great."

She finished with a game-high 30 points, tying Cynthia Cooper for most 30-point games in a WNBA career (16) and Diana Taurasi for a season (eight). But Jackson was more concerned about the losing.

"This is demoralizing," Jackson said. "We're finding it hard to figure out ways to win. It's been to our detriment."

Lennox agreed, saying, "We were just setting ourselves up for bait."

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