In a year that was full of transition from the front office to the coaching staff to the roster, there was one part that remained unchanged. Crystal Langhorne was nothing if not consistent.
She remained a steady presence on and off the court and that imprinted itself on her younger teammates. That quickly started to show itself on the court as the team won half of its final win total in the final third of the season and was a good sign for the future.
“This season was huge,” Langhorne said. “With Jenny [Boucek] putting in her systems, how she wants to play. Everyone learning it, everybody knows it now. I think next year it’s going to be much better. Everybody is going to come in confident about things. Our young players got a lot of experience so it will be a totally different experience.”
Here’s the quick hits of her season:
Langhorne led the team in points per game (11.1), rebounds (5.7), and steals (1.1). Her 54.5 field goal percentage was the third best in the league, behind only Brittney Griner and Emma Meesseman. Along with Nneka Ogwumike, she was one of two players in the league to average at least 10 points, five rebounds, one steal, and shoot better than 50 percent from the field.
She was the only Storm player to appear in each of the 34 games.
Okay, now it’s time to dig a little deeper into her season.
Langhorne had the best shooting night in team history when she went 12-for-13 from the field and dropped 29 points against San Antonio on Aug. 8. The previous mark was 10-for-11, which was done twice and the last completed by Sue Bird in 2012.
The 54.4 field goal percentage was the second best mark in team history, trailing only herself at 56 percent.
She also had a streak of eight straight double figure games, which ended with a three-game stretch where she shot 72.2 percent.
But her most important role of the season was being a mentor. She was the anchor in the paint among a group learning the WNBA ropes.
Langhorne was in her eighth season and the combined service time of Ramu Tokashiki, Abby Bishop, Markeisha Gatling, and Quanitra Hollingsworth was six seasons. There was a lot to teach and was something that the group embraced.
“They helped me a lot,” Gatling said. “Lang was very open to helping me out with stuff. I talked to her a lot about different plays.”
Gatling set a career-high with 16 points, Tokashiki had a league rookie-high 21 points, Bishop set a career-high with 18.
Langhorne said, “It was great to see. It was a rough year but look at all the young players that we had and the growth that they’ve shown. Jewell [Loyd] and [Tokashiki], [Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis], [Mar]keisha, all the young players were playing really well.”
Her leadership and experience rubbed off on the rest of the team and her consistency should bode well for the Storm heading into 2016.