Originally published July 27, 2008 at 12:00 AM | Page modified July 28, 2008 at 12:00 AM

Sue Bird scores 24, Storm beats Monarchs 77-71

Sue Bird scored a season-high 24 points and the Seattle Storm fended off a Sacramento comeback to end the Monarchs' seven-game winning streak...

The Seattle Times

Jayda Evans' Storm Blog

See more mapped stories

SEATTLE — Sue Bird scored a season-high 24 points and the Seattle Storm fended off a Sacramento comeback to end the Monarchs' seven-game winning streak Sunday night with a 77-71 victory.

Swin Cash added 13 points for Seattle and Tanish Wright had 12 in the last WNBA game before a monthlong break for the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Scholanda Robinson scored 13 points for the Monarchs, who matched a franchise record with their winning streak. Nicole Powell had 12 points, including seven in the fourth-quarter rally before she fouled out with 1:21 to go.

The Storm have the WNBA's best home record at 13-1.

Seattle used two extended spurts — 13-0 bridging the second and third quarters and 12-1 later in the third period — to take a 67-47 lead. Sacramento's scoreless spell lasted 4:47 as the Monarchs fell from one point down to 14.

They cut the margin to 55-46 before Seattle put together the 12-3 run, which Katie Gearlds started with back-to-back 3-pointers.

Sacramento's defense forced the Storm to miss nine of their first 10 shots in the fourth quarter and the Monarchs got as close as 69-66 on a pair of free throws by Crystal Kelly with about two minutes remaining.

The Monarchs' last loss was 79-64 at home to Seattle on July 8.

The Storm went on a 10-2 run to take a 27-22 lead early in the second. They eventually built that lead to 37-28 on a layup by Wright with 4:05 left before halftime.

The Monarchs then went on an 11-3 run to trail by just one before Gearlds drained a 3-pointer just before the horn to give the Storm a 43-39 lead at intermission.

More Storm headlines...

Print Share: Digg Newsvine