Despite Lauren Jackson's 25 points, the Storms fall to the Dream

ATLANTA — Lauren Jackson did all she could. It just wasn't enough.

Bouncing back from a sub-par shooting game at Connecticut, the two-time MVP scored a game-high 25 points in reaching the 5,000-point milestone for her career.

Jackson's 10-for-17 game, including four three-pointers, didn't pay off in a victory for the Seattle Storm, though. Instead it was just another loss to an Eastern Conference team.

Sancho Lyttle had 20 points to lead four-double figure scorers as the Atlanta Dream defeated the Storm 88-79 on Saturday night to move into sole possession of second place in the East.

"I don't care about a milestone or how many points I score," Jackson said. "We need wins right now, and we're not playing consistent enough to get them."

Seattle, which has lost four of its past five games, is still in second place in the Western Conference with a 13-11 record. But the Storm is 1-6 against the Eastern Conference and has six more games against the East before returning to more familiar opponents.

"We don't know the teams from the East as well, but they don't know us either," said Sue Bird, who had 12 assists for the Storm. "There is no excuse. We can't keep losing these games, no matter who we are playing."

Seattle committed 20 turnovers and that led to 23 Atlanta points.

The Storm was done in by a 14-4 Dream run early in the fourth quarter that proved too much to overcome.

"We had a lapse there when we turned the ball over on a series of possessions," Seattle coach Brian Angler said. "That was probably the game right there."

Angel McCoughtry had 16 points for the Dream (13-11), which got 13 points and 12 rebounds from Erikea DeSouza, and 11 points from Iziane Castro Marques. Atlanta has won six of its past seven games.

Atlanta opened up a 13-point lead with just over five minutes remaining, but Seattle made a run, cutting the margin to four points in the final minute. Lyttle iced the Atlanta win with a rebound basket.

Swin Cash and Tanisha Wright each had 12 points for Seattle. Bird was held to eight points on 4-for-13 shooting.

Jackson, who came in with 4,999 points, reached her milestone with a driving left-handed lay-up less than three minutes into the game. She is the fourth WNBA player to score at least 5,000 points, joining Lisa Leslie, Katie Smith and Tina Thompson. Leslie has more than 6,000 points.

Jackson had 11 points to lead all scorers in the first half, shooting 5 for 7 from the floor, but the Storm trailed 43-39. "We made some mistakes defensively, and offensively we didn't get the looks we wanted," Jackson said. "They kept getting momentum, and we just couldn't really get momentum at all."

Saturday's box

SEATTLE		fg	ft
min		m-a	m-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Cash	37:40	5-8	2-4	1-5	4	4	12
Jackson	34:13	10-17	1-1	0-9	2	3	25
Little	32:19	2-6	5-6	1-4	2	5	9
Wright	24:13	5-6	2-2	0-3	2	5	12
Bird	36:20	4-13	0-0	1-3	12	0	8
Johnson	19:43	1-3	1-2	0-0	1	1	3
Batkovic	8:36	3-5	2-3	1-1	0	2	8
Burse	5:56	1-3	0-0	0-1	0	0	2
Robinson	1:00	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Totals		31-61	13-18	4-26	23	20	79

Percentages: FG .508, FT .722. Three-point goals: 4-14, .286 (Jackson 4-9, Batkovic 0-1, Bird 0-2, Johnson 0-2). Team rebounds: 8. Team Turnovers: 20 (0 PTS). Blocked shots: 1 (Cash). Turnovers: 19 (Cash 8, Wright 4, Batkovic 2, Bird 2, Jackson, Johnson, Little). Steals: 13 (Jackson 5, Cash 3, Johnson 2, Bird, Little, Wright). Technical fouls: Jackson, 6:47 second; Johnson, 0:11.0 second.

ATLANTA		fg	ft
min		m-a	m-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Holdsclaw	20:58	4-11	1-1	3-5	1	0	9
Lyttle	30:45	9-17	2-3	4-8	1	3	20
Desouza	36:24	6-12	1-1	4-12	1	2	13
C. Marques	14:42	4-7	1-1	0-1	0	3	11
Lehning	31:30	2-3	2-2	1-2	6	3	6
Price	3:35	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Lacy	9:15	0-3	0-0	0-3	1	2	0
McCoughtry	25:18	6-12	3-7	1-3	5	2	16
Miller	15:27	3-7	2-2	0-0	0	1	8
Latta	8:30	1-3	0-0	0-0	1	2	3
Snow	3:36	1-2	0-0	1-1	0	1	2
Totals		36-77	12-17	14-35	16	19	88

Percentages: FG .468, FT .706. Three-point goals: 4-10, .400 (Castro Marques 2-4, Latta 1-2, McCoughtry 1-2, Holdsclaw 0-1, Lacy 0-1). Team rebounds: 12. Team Turnovers: 18 (0 PTS). Blocked shots: 3 (Desouza 2, Lyttle). Turnovers: 15 (McCoughtry 5, Castro Marques 3, Holdsclaw 3, Desouza 2, Lehning 2). Steals: 12 (McCoughtry 4, Lyttle 3, Castro Marques, Desouza, Holdsclaw, Lehning, Miller). Technical fouls: Snow, 6:47 second.

Seattle	18	21	15	25 — 79
Atlanta	23	20	18	27 — 88

Attendance: 8,751 (19,855). Time: 2:01. Officials: Sue Blauch, James Breeding, Angelica Suffren.