Notebook | Former Storm assistant faces Seattle in first game

WASHINGTON — While the Storm has been dealing with a four-game road swing and the absence of its best player, Lauren Jackson, the Washington Mystics lost two games by a combined 58 points and fired coach Tree Rollins.

This set up an unexpected twist as former Storm assistant coach Jessie Kenlaw was promoted to interim coach just in time to face her former team.

"I didn't even think of it being against my former team," Kenlaw said. "I was just so caught up with it being my first as a head coach. It wouldn't have mattered who it was. Everything just happened so fast. It was overwhelming. I managed to get through it and the girls responded very well."

Going into the game, Storm guard Sue Bird praised her former coach and was looking forward to the matchup.

"She was here when we won a championship," Bird said. "We had a lot of successful times with Jessie. I really enjoyed playing under her as an assistant, and I'm sure she's going to do a great job as a head coach."

"They were really fired up for this game," Storm forward Camille Little said. "We knew before the game how it would be and we fell behind and just couldn't catch them."

With the coaching change, the Mystics rode a wave of momentum and emotion, and it suffocated the Storm. Coming off two humiliating losses to Detroit and New York, Washington had its pride hurt and was looking to rebound.

"Going out it was about the game before," Mystics forward Taj McWilliams-Franklin said. "As a professional when you get humiliated and embarrassed like that, that has to be on your mind. It was on my mind at the jump ball. ... I didn't want to feel like that again. It was personal pride."

The Storm's intensity — coming off a 17-point comeback win against Indiana — was not up to par with the Mystics'.

Before the game Bird reflected on the comeback against Indiana and was confident that the Storm could continue to have success until the break for the Olympics.

"I don't really think we are in a storm," Bird said. "The way our team is put together this year, the way our offense is run and the way our defense is played we can weather the storm, pun intended, with or without Lauren. We have a lot of capable people and we are playing together as a team, it's not just one person."

SEATTLE
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Cash	20:52	1-6	1-2	2-3	1	1	3
Little	27:14	4-9	2-2	6-12	3	1	10
Griffith	18:32	2-3	2-4	1-2	1	3	6
Swoopes	13:10	1-1	0-0	0-2	1	1	2
Bird	20:38	5-8	0-1	0-0	2	1	11
Wright	24:34	1-5	1-2	0-2	1	2	3
Robinson	12:24	0-3	0-0	0-2	0	2	0
Santos	19:04	1-4	5-9	0-3	0	1	7
Gearlds	19:22	5-10	0-0	0-1	0	2	13
Ely	14:26	1-4	0-2	3-3	1	2	2
O'Neill	9:44	0-2	0-0	0-0	1	1	0
Totals		21-55	11-22	12-30	11	17	57

Percentages: FG .382, FT .500. Three-point goals: 4-14, .286 (Gearlds 3-7, Bird 1-3, Ely 0-1, O'Neill 0-1, Little 0-2). Team rebounds: 10. Team Turnovers: 24 (28 PTS). Blocked shots: 2 (Ely, Griffith). Turnovers: 23 (Bird 4, Gearlds 4, Little 4, Cash 3, Ely 2, Robinson 2, Swoopes 2, Santos, Wright). Steals: 8 (Little 3, Gearlds 2, Bird, Griffith, Santos).

WASHINGTON
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Currie	26:44	3-6	6-6	1-6	2	3	12
McWllms-Frkln	29:11	10-15	0-0	1-1	3	0	22
Sanford	18:03	3-5	2-4	0-1	2	4	8
Beard	30:57	4-15	0-0	0-4	9	3	9
Blue	17:46	3-3	0-0	0-1	0	4	9
Smith	14:26	3-4	2-2	1-1	2	1	9
Miller	22:15	2-4	1-2	0-2	2	2	6
Langhorne	18:51	0-1	0-0	0-3	2	1	0
Mosby	13:55	4-5	0-0	1-7	1	1	8
Koehn	4:29	2-3	0-0	0-0	0	0	6
Wecker	3:23	0-1	0-0	1-2	0	1	0
Totals		34-62	11-14	5-28	23	20	89

Percentages: FG .548, FT .786. Three-point goals: 10-17, .588 (Blue 3-3, McWilliams-Franklin 2-2, Koehn 2-3, Smith 1-1, Miller 1-2, Beard 1-5, Currie 0-1). Team rebounds: 8. Team Turnovers: 15 (11 PTS). Blocked shots: 2 (Beard, McWilliams-Franklin). Turnovers: 15 (Miller 4, McWilliams-Franklin 3, Beard, Blue, Currie, Langhorne, Mosby, Sanford, Smith, Wecker). Steals: 19 (Beard 5, McWilliams-Franklin 4, Currie 3, Langhorne 3, Miller 2, Mosby, Smith).

Seattle	17	8	17	15 — 57
Washington	23	25	16	25 — 89

Attendance: 8,543 (19,487). Time: 1:54. Officials: Michael Price, Shelley Nakasone, Cameron Inouye.