Storm hands Atlanta first loss of season, 90-72

Lately, all the talk has been about Atlanta.

Well, Lauren Jackson has learned to let her game do all the talking.

On Tuesday, she shook off Dream defenders on the way to a season-high 32 points, helping Seattle to a 90-72 victory in front of 7,586 at KeyArena.

"I've been in this league long enough to know it doesn't matter who they're talking about — it just matters how you play," Storm guard Sue Bird said. "I'd rather them not talk about us. We knew Atlanta was undefeated. For us, it's home court, we wanted to defend it and we played well. Everyone has a right to be excited, but we didn't win anything."

Not unless you count a little more respect leaguewide.

With the win, Seattle (6-1) is back in the conversation as not just the best team in the Western Conference, but the best team in the WNBA. Atlanta, which had started the season a franchise-best 6-0, still has never won at KeyArena since its inception in 2008.

"Hopefully we don't get complacent, like we did against Chicago," said Jackson of the Storm's lifeless, nine-point road loss to the Sky last week. "We've always flown under the radar a little bit. We collectively want to do well, and we still haven't talked about a Western Conference championship. It's too early in the season."

Untangling itself from the pregame hype surrounding a clash of conference leaders on national television, Seattle issued a statement that it is legitimate — when healthy and focused. For the second consecutive game, the Storm pieced together an impressive defensive game while shooting 55.2 percent from the field.

Jackson, a 6-foot-5 forward, shot 10 of 19 from the field, including 5 of 8 from three-point range, and added 10 rebounds in 31 minutes. Her back-to-back three-pointers and Bird's buzzer-beating layin at the end of the third quarter sealed the game, putting Seattle ahead 61-48.

Not that things weren't ever tense. Held to a season-low nine points in the first quarter, Atlanta used an 11-5 run in the second to tie the score at 22. Dream center Yelena Leuchanka sparked the charge with back-to-back buckets inside, while teammate Angel McCoughtry fought for steals.

Storm coach Brian Agler quickly called a timeout, and out of it forward Camille Little scored two layups to ignite a 17-5 surge to close the half. The run included a 9-0 stretch with Jackson rolling in layins and teammate Tanisha Wright getting a steal.

"I know this team can get on a roll," Agler said of Atlanta. "That situation happened, and they can really accelerate when they do that. (The timeout) was more talking things over and not letting that happen."

Seattle successfully frustrated a potent Atlanta team for the remainder of the game, putting center Erika de Souza on the bench with foul trouble and limiting McCoughtry, the 2009 Rookie of the Year, to 7-for-24 shooting from the field. She finished with a team-high 16 points, along with five rebounds.

"They were the talk of the town," the Storm's Swin Cash said of the Dream. "It's early in the season, but this is a statement game. They beat some pretty good teams. We want to be on top, and we want to be the one everybody is chasing. So it's good for us to come out and have a performance like we did."

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

Storm 90, Dream 72

ATLANTA		fg	ft
min		m-a	m-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
McCoughtry	32:06	7-24	0-3	3-5	3	2	16
Lyttle	25:58	4-7	2-2	1-6	0	3	10
Desouza	17:14	0-2	2-4	3-4	2	5	2
Castro Marques	23:20	3-9	0-0	0-1	1	0	6
Lehning	14:59	1-5	1-2	0-0	2	2	4
KMiller	25:01	3-7	0-0	1-3	2	1	9
Bales	19:09	1-2	1-1	1-2	1	1	3
Price	13:21	1-4	2-3	1-2	1	2	4
Leuchanka	15:18	3-8	2-2	2-3	1	0	8
Raven	8:19	2-3	1-2	1-1	0	3	6
CMiller	5:15	1-2	2-2	0-0	0	1	4
Totals		26-73	13-21	13-27	13	20	72

Percentages: FG .356, FT .619. Three-point goals: 7-18, .389 (K.Miller 3-6, McCoughtry 2-4, Raven 1-1, Lehning 1-2, C.Miller 0-1, Castro Marques 0-4). Team rebounds: 13. Team turnovers: 19 (23 PTS). Blocked shots: 2 (Bales, Lyttle). Turnovers: 19 (McCoughtry 4, Castro Marques 3, Lehning 3, Lyttle 3, Desouza 2, K.Miller 2, Bales, Leuchanka). Steals: 9 (McCoughtry 4, Bales, Castro Marques, Desouza, Lehning, Leuchanka). Technical fouls: None.

SEATTLE		fg	ft
min		m-a	m-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Cash	32:36	5-7	2-4	2-8	3	4	13
Jackson	31:03	10-19	7-7	3-10	2	3	32
Little	27:40	6-7	3-4	1-3	1	1	15
Bird	31:33	4-11	0-0	0-4	6	0	9
Wright	29:47	1-3	3-5	0-3	4	5	5
Abrosimova	21:35	4-6	1-2	0-3	1	4	9
Willingham	10:11	1-4	0-0	2-3	0	1	2
Robinson	6:44	0-0	0-0	0-0	1	1	0
Vesela	4:29	0-0	2-2	0-1	1	0	2
Bishop	4:22	1-1	1-2	0-0	0	0	3
Totals		32-58	19-26	8-35	19	19	90

Percentages: FG .552, FT .731. Three-point goals: 7-13, .538 (Jackson 5-8, Cash 1-1, Bird 1-4). Team rebounds: 13. Team turnovers: 21 (18 PTS). Blocked shots: 5 (Jackson 3, Little, Robinson). Turnovers: 21 (Cash 5, Wright 4, Abrosimova 3, Bird 3, Little 3, Jackson, Robinson, Vesela). Steals: 14 (Bird 4, Little 4, Jackson 2, Abrosimova, Cash, Willingham, Wright). Technical fouls: None.

Atlanta	9	18	21	24 — 72
Seattle	17	22	22	29 — 90

Attendance: 7,586 (9,686). Time: 2:02. Officials: Sue Blauch, Roy Gulbeyan, Maj Forsberg.