Storm (6-19) vs. San Antonio Stars (7-17)

KeyArena | Seattle, Wash.

August 16, 2015 | 6 p.m. PT

Broadcast: NBATV, KONG, FSSW

 

2015 vs. San Antonio: 0-2

Last meeting:  L 88-81 (August 8, 2015)

Leading scorer: Crystal Langhorne 29

 

The Storm will be back in action on Sunday for the second of a six-game homestand when it hosts the San Antonio Stars at 6 p.m.

It is the third matchup between the two teams and San Antonio’s first trip to Seattle this season.

PLAYER TO WATCH: Crystal Langhorne

San Antonio will also be watching and scouting for the Storm center. The last time the two teams met, Crystal Langhorne scored 29 points and made all but one of her 13 shots. The 29 points was a season high and two off matching her career-high of 31. Good chance the focus will be here.

SCOUTING SAN ANTONIO

Jia Perkins and Kayla McBride combined for 52 of the team’s 88 points in the last matchup. Perkins, who is averaging 14.6 points per game, has scored at least 23 in three of her last five games. The Stars are the third worst shooting team in the league and only shoot 31.8 percent from three. Keeping them on the perimeter should suit the Storm well.

KEYS TO THE GAME

The Storm spent the whole game playing catchup last Saturday and went down by 15 after the first quarter. Despite the comeback to tie it in the third, jumping out the gates has been an item of concern for Seattle. Much like the focus for San Antonio will be Crystal Langhorne, slowing down Jia Perkins will be highlighted by the Storm.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

After a season-long six game road trip, the familiar confines of KeyArena was a welcome sight on Friday and it is something the Storm will get plenty of in the next couple of weeks as the team is in the midst of its longest homestand of the season. Sunday’s game is the second of six straight in Seattle.

12 SHY OF 11TH ALL-TIME

I has been a season of milestones for one of the all-time greats. With her three pointer late in the fourth quarter on June 25, Sue Bird eclipsed Sheryl Swoopes for 13th on the WNBA’s all-time scoring list. On August 2 at Madison Square Garden, she surpassed the 5,000-point mark to become the only player in league history to record 5,000 points and 2,000 assists for a career and did it in front of her hometown crowd. She is at 5,036 points and passed Taj McWilliams-Franklin, who finished with 5,013 points, for 12th on the all-time list after scoring 15 points against Los Angeles in Tuesday night’s win. Next up is Tangela Smith at 5,048.

LOYD NAMED ROOKIE OF THE MONTH

Jewell Loyd is starting to show why she was taken first overall in April’s draft. She earned WNBA Rookie of the Month honors in July after averaging 10.5 points and shooting 94 percent from the line. Loyd has reached double figure scoring in four of her last six games and is averaging 12.8 points over the last four. She has also been near automatic from the line and has made 38 of her last 40 attempts.

LANG ON FIRE

Crystal Langhorne came alive this week and it started with a 29-point performance against San Antonio last Saturday where she went 12-for-13 from the field. She followed it up with an 18-point outing in the 85-77 win over Los Angeles. She is averaging 16.8 points over the last four games and is shooting 65 percent from the field. Overall, Langhorne is shooting a league-best 56.3 percent from the field.

KALEENA FINDING HER WAY

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis has found it tough to find minutes so far this season but her hard work has clearly paid dividends as she has scored in double figures in two of the last three games, including a career-high 15 in the Storm’s win over Los Angeles on Tuesday. She followed it up with 14 more on Wednesday at Phoenix, which included 12 points in the second quarter.

HITTING THE MARK-EISHA

It has taken some time but the second year center has started to find her comfort level within the Storm offense. Markeisha Gatling scored a career-high 16 points on Friday against her former team, Chicago, in 12 minutes of play. It is her second double digit game off the bench in the last seven games and she is averaging 5.3 points in only 10.6 minutes.

BIRD IN THE HAND, WORTH TWO IN THE BASKET

Sue Bird continues to be one of the better distributors in the league and dished out a season-high 13 assists, one off a career-high, on August 8 at San Antonio. She also collected 12 on July 18 against Atlanta. Bird is second in the league with 5.6 assists per game and is one of only three players to be averaging 10 points and five assists (Courtney Vandersloot, Danielle Robinson).