Danielle Robinson said her team needed a win after losing focus in Friday’s loss to Connecticut. On Sunday she nearly got the San Antonio Stars that much needed victory, but Crystal Langhore and the Seattle Storm proved to be too tough to stop.
Langhorne finished with 19 points, including 15 in the second half to led the Storm to a 71-65 victory over the Stars in front of 5,736 fans inside KeyArena.
Camille Little added 15 points and Sue Bird chipped in 10 for Seattle (10-20), who snapped their seven-game losing streak and moved just 3 1/2 games behind San Antonio for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with the victory.
”Sue made a huge play defensively with the steal and the layup,” Storm head coach Brian Agler said. ”People that have watched us play over the years, that’s what they’re used to seeing down the stretch.”
Kayla McBride scored 17 points and Danielle Adams added 14 for San Antonio, who fell to fourth place with the loss, their second straight.
After being down by as many as 18 points, San Antonio outscored Seattle 23-12 in the third quarter to get back into the game and take a 56-51 lead. However, Seattle’s defense allowed just two San Antonio field goals in the final four minutes to seal the win.
”We got back into it but we didn’t finish some defensive plays,” Stars head coach Dan Hughes said. ”Part of it was you have to expend so much energy coming back from 18 points down.”
The Storm took the season series from the Stars 3-1.
San Antonio’s ‘magic number’ to clinch a playoff berth remains at two games. Despite losing seven of their last nine games, they still lead the Tulsa Shock (10-19) by three games for the fourth spot in the West.
The Stars are now 13-16 on the season and will return to the court on Thursday when they welcome Brittney Griner and the Phoenix Mercury to the AT&T Center at 7 p.m.
(Quotes via WNBA.com)
