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San Antonio- Something had to give, Saturday night, as both the Seattle Storm and San Antonio Stars entered the matchup carrying four-game losing streaks. That something turned out to be first quarter momentum. The Stars rode a 27-point first period to an 88-81 victory, their first win since July 29.

The Stars lead grew to as many as 17 in the first quarter, due in part to four threes from Kayla McBride and seven Storm turnovers.

“I don’t know if we did a whole lot different. I think just the law of averages.” Storm Head Coach Jenny Boucek said. “They cooled off a little bit. And unfortunately Jia (Perkins) got really hot in the fourth.”

WNBA July Rookie of the Month, Jewell Loyd, quickly answered in the second with three consecutive buckets of her own. Loyd had 16 points and four rebounds.

The Storm tightened up its defense in the second period; outscoring the Stars 22-16 and not committing their first team foul until the final minute. At the half, the Stars lead was down to just nine, 43-34.

“We started getting stops, and we started making shots. Early on they were killing us offensively and then we missed a lot of good shots. I think once we started getting the defensive rhythm, we played better.” Storm Forward Crystal Langhorne said.

Langhorne had 11 points in the first half, and a season-high 29 for the game, just two points shy of her career high. It was Langhorne’s seventh consecutive game scoring in double figures.

“She really got it going.” Boucek said. “Give our team credit for finding her, getting her open and finding her, and then she did the rest. So it was a good game for Crystal. It’s unfortunate we don’t get the reward.”

Sue Bird had a generous night dishing out a season-high 13 assists, while playing a team high 33 minutes.

Jia Perkins’ nine third-quarter points helped the Stars tamp down a nice run that saw the Storm tie the game momentarily, but never take the lead. Perkins led the Stars with 32 points, the most in a game from a Stars player all season.

McBride’s six threes were the most in a game against the Storm by a single player all season.

15 turnovers derailed a nice shooting night for the Storm that saw them make 53% from the field.The Storm won the battle in the paint, outscoring the Stars 42-34. However, San Antonio had the advantage from long-range, making eight threes to Seattle’s two.

Jenna O’Hea, making her 14th start of the season, had 14 points for the Storm, her third game of the season in double figures. Storm forward Alysha Clark was not with the team for tonight’s game. She will rejoin the Storm midway through this leg of the road trip.

Seattle travels to Los Angeles to take on the Sparks, Tuesday Aug. 11, in what is the fifth game of a grueling six game road trip, concluding with the defending WNBA champion Phoenix Mercury on Aug. 12.

Despite 29 from Langhorne, Stars Outshine Storm