Seattle 64, Houston 63 | Cash leads charge for Storm

Knowing she wasn't among the initial nine players named to the Olympic team on Saturday, Swin Cash was motivated to remind the KeyArena crowd and the Houston Comets of her game.

She did that, leading a fourth-quarter comeback Sunday in the Storm's 64-63 win that was capped by Sue Bird's layup with 6.4 seconds left.

"Still motivating," said Cash after scoring 11 of her game-high 19 points in the final quarter. "I know the last couple of years, I haven't had the type of success that I did have in Detroit. Every time I step on the court right now it's like I have something to prove. I played in 2004 [in the Athens Olympics] and people tend to forget about that.

"I'm used to being in this position. I get that look that my mom sometimes gets when I've seen her have to go work two different jobs. Sometimes you may not want to do it, it's not easy, but at the end of the day you know what you want. It makes me more motivated."

The Storm shot just 27.3 percent from the field through the first three quarters and trailed 53-47 entering the fourth. Cash said she needed to do something to help her team, and she started by making two 16-footers and a turnaround jumper to tie the score at 55-55 with 5:49 remaining.

Cash finalized her contribution with three free throws. Then the Storm defense made two key plays to help win the game.

The first was a block by center Yolanda Griffith on Houston rookie Matee Ajavon with 1:46 left. After Tamecka Dixon converted a Tina Thompson steal into a jumper that put Houston ahead 63-62, Storm reserve Tanisha Wright blocked Dixon's next shot.

With her team out of timeouts, Storm forward Lauren Jackson collected the ball and zipped it ahead to a racing Bird, who made the game-winning layin.

"Once I saw Lauren with the ball, I knew we didn't have timeouts and there wasn't a lot of time on the clock," Bird said. "I just thought to myself, 'Run!' Once Lauren saw me, she threw it and it was probably the hardest layup I've ever taken in my life."

But instead of time simply winding down, more oddities occurred in a game that already had produced a combined 53 fouls. Official Cameron Inouye inadvertently blew her whistle, stopping the clock with 4.6 seconds left. The clock was manually restarted, showing 3.8, and Houston scrambled to get a shot off. But Misti Williams' attempt missed and the clock was frozen at 3.4.

The officials discussed the situation as the crowd of 6,116 chanted, "Game is over!" The result had the Storm getting possession with 0.8 seconds on the clock. Seattle inbounded and the horn sounded, giving the Storm a 5-1 record. The Comets, who played their first game against franchise original Sheryl Swoopes, fell to 0-5.

"It was different seeing her in a different uniform," said Thompson, a Comets forward. "I've always said it's business first, and Sheryl has to make the right decision for her and her family. She seems to be very happy here. They've accepted her and love her being here and that's a good thing."

Swoopes didn't have a remarkable game, beyond logging her WNBA-record 600th career steal in the first quarter. She missed her only two shots and did not play in the fourth quarter in favor of Wright.

"Swin played big for us," Storm coach Brian Agler said. "I don't try to get one or two people going. I like for them to get their opportunities. But when things aren't going right, you try to get the right combination on the floor. That one group that played well down the stretch was the group we were going to go with. Next game it could be someone else."

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