Storm routs Sky, 80-60

By the fourth quarter, the WNBA's best center was reduced to a spectator.

Chicago's Sylvia Fowles sat on the bench, playing with her ponytail and keeping warm with a towel over her shoulders, as the Storm put the finishing touches on an 80-60 victory Friday night at KeyArena.

Yeah, payback isn't fun.

"They are definitely a different team," said Fowles of the Storm, which fell 85-74 to the Sky in May. "They are clicking. They've put all the pieces together. Everyone on the team is a threat, not just Lauren (Jackson) and Sue (Bird). You have to guard everybody, and their defense is better."

Seattle was able to end a three-game losing streak against Chicago (12-14) with the win, including the May matchup that is one of just two loses for the Storm this season. Seattle now is on a 13-game win streak, is undefeated in 13 games at KeyArena, and has matched its record for wins in a season at 22-2 with 10 games remaining.

The Storm also has the winningest start in Seattle's professional sports history, surpassing the 1980 Sounders, who started 21-2.

"We talked amongst ourselves that we've lost to Chicago the last three times and we wanted to have a good start," Storm forward Camille Little said. "We played well in the first half and we just tried to keep it rolling in the second."

Just well?

With Seattle leading 12-8 with 4:18 left in the first quarter, a short jump shot by Jackson ignited a 12-0 run that probably still has the Sky players' heads spinning. Storm coach Brian Agler put his entire front line on the 6-foot-6 Fowles, sending double and triple teams at Chicago's go-to player until she turned the ball over while looking for her secondary options.

Fowles finished with 13 points, five rebounds, five assists and no blocks as the Storm outscored the Sky 36-20 inside.

Agler kept his halftime speech brief and started with rare words: "Great first half."

"I was kind of shocked, because he's always talking about the next thing and you never get that positive reinforcement all the time," said Swin Cash, who led the Storm with 16 points. "We actually were present and engaged about playing our style (in comparison to May). We saw that from the opening tip. We just were aggressive defensively."

The matchup was a striking difference from Tuesday, when the Storm needed an 18-point rally to come back against defending champion Phoenix.

On Friday, the Storm retained its focus, never allowing Chicago within 20 points. Chicago coach Steve Key pulled his starters for the fourth quarter, while Agler didn't play Cash or Jackson in the fourth.

"What I was impressed with about our team was our focus," said Agler, whose team departs for a two-road trip on Saturday. "After playing an emotional game on Tuesday, you have a team that comes in here and we don't play them a lot. We have a tendency to play soft against them. ...

"I was glad that we talked about (it) and we had the ability to apply it on the floor."

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

CHICAGO		fg	ft
min		m-a	m-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Young	21:05	2-8	4-4	1-2	0	1	8
Bass	20:38	0-4	2-2	2-7	1	1	2
Fowles	27:38	4-5	5-9	3-5	5	0	13
Canty	21:13	4-11	1-2	1-1	0	2	9
Perkins	25:46	2-5	1-2	0-2	0	0	5
Murphy	18:55	2-8	0-2	1-3	1	2	6
Kraayeveld	19:22	2-5	1-4	1-3	0	2	7
Prince	18:47	3-9	3-3	0-6	1	2	10
Thorn	14:14	0-1	0-0	0-0	1	0	0
Thomas	12:22	0-1	0-0	1-2	0	3	0
Totals		19-57	17-28	10-31	9	13	60

Percentages: FG .333, FT .607. Three-point goals: 5-14, .357 (Kraayeveld 2-4, Murphy 2-5, Prince 1-3, Canty 0-1, Perkins 0-1). Team rebounds: 11. Team turnovers: 16 (14 PTS). Blocked shots: 3 (Bass, Kraayeveld, Prince). Turnovers: 15 (Canty 3, Fowles 3, Young 2, Bass, Kraayeveld, Murphy, Perkins, Prince, Thomas, Thorn). Steals: 7 (Perkins 2, Young 2, Bass, Canty, Prince). Technical fouls: None.

SEATTLE		fg	ft
min		m-a	m-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Cash	23:57	6-10	2-2	0-4	3	2	16
Jackson	24:19	6-12	1-1	2-4	3	3	14
Little	19:18	4-7	1-2	3-7	0	4	10
Bird	28:43	4-7	0-0	0-2	8	0	11
Wright	22:58	2-6	0-0	0-1	4	3	5
Willingham	18:16	4-7	0-0	2-7	1	2	9
Abrosimova	22:40	5-11	2-2	0-2	3	1	13
Robinson	14:31	1-2	0-0	1-2	1	2	2
Vesela	16:03	0-3	0-0	1-4	1	1	0
Lacey	5:39	0-3	0-0	0-2	0	0	0
Bishop	3:36	0-1	0-0	0-2	0	3	0
Totals		32-69	6-7	9-37	24	21	80

Percentages: FG .464, FT .857. Three-point goals: 10-27, .370 (Bird 3-5, Cash 2-3, Little 1-1, Willingham 1-2, Wright 1-2, Abrosimova 1-5, Jackson 1-5, Bishop 0-1, Vesela 0-1, Lacey 0-2). Team rebounds: 8. Team turnovers: 15 (9 PTS). Blocked shots: 5 (Robinson 3, Cash, Lacey). Turnovers: 14 (Wright 4, Abrosimova 2, Cash 2, Jackson 2, Vesela 2, Bird, Little). Steals: 8 (Little 2, Vesela 2, Abrosimova, Bird, Robinson, Wright). Technical fouls: None.

Chicago	13	18	18	11 — 60
Seattle	27	28	17	8 — 80

Attendance: 7,749 (9,686). Time: 1:47. Officials: Roy Gulbeyan, Tom Mauer, Penny Davis.