Plenette Pierson scored 20 points as she led the Shock to an 88-61 win over the Stars in front of 5,005 fans inside the BOK Center Tuesday morning.
Riquna Williams added 16 points and Skylar Diggins chipped in 13 for Tulsa (4-1), who sit atop the Western Conference standings for the first time since the team relocated from Detroit to Oklahoma.
“It feels amazing,” Pierson said. “You know, I think this city has been begging for some wins early and some success, and that’s what we’re trying to give.”
Tulsa swept their home-and-home series from San Antonio and dominated the boards in both meetings. The Shock out-rebounded the Stars 100-51 combined in the two meetings. Courtney Paris had 13 rebounds and pulled down 32 rebounds in the series.
Jia Perkins led the Stars with 20 points and Sophia Young-Malcolm scored a season-high 20 for San Antonio, who are winless after four games for just the second time in franchise history. San Antonio’s bench was outscored 41 to 25 as the silver and black shot 31 percent for the game.
“Well, the way we’re playing right now; the positive thing is that there’s no way to go but up,” Young-Malcolm said. “In the WNBA, it’s not necessarily about how you start; it’s how you finish. Getting off to a bad start, we’re not going to look at it as an ending. We’re going to figure out what we have to do to move on to get better.”
With the loss, the Stars suffered their first four game losing streak since August of 2014. They have lost two straight to the Shock for the first time since losing back-to-back games in the 2008 WNBA Finals to the then-Detroit Shock.
The Stars are now 0-4 on the season and will return to the court on Friday night when they welcome Maya Moore and the Minnesota Lynx to the Freeman Coliseum at 7 p.m.
