Final score: Storm 75 – Fever 64 (W) (1-2 preseason)

Submitted by Norwester

It's been pointed out to me (and I've realized) that I've been a tad snarky lately. Hopefully now that the new season is upon us I'll have something better to focus my energies on than taking pot-shots at innocent board members. I really came into this game with few expectations. Mostly I wanted to see if I could tell who would make the team; I wanted to see Kristin O'Neil playing in a Storm uniform; and I wanted to bask in the glow of the incumbent season. I'd say that all of my goals were met tonight.

There was a really decent crowd on hand for a pre-season game. They were generally very responsive when there was something to respond to. It was fun to sit there, eating stadium food as the arena filled up. I watched the team and coaches. All three coaches were generally very active, talking to the players and taking a hands-on approach. I wondered at one point who the accountant-looking guy was who Coach Agler was talking to out on the floor. Turns out he's the new trainer. Who knew?

Swin and Santos both were sporting knee braces. Tanisha was wearing low socks instead of her knee socks from the past few years, and Katie Gearlds had ankle socks too. Did she have knee socks last year? Our "friend" the blonde ref from the Fan Fest was one of the three officials. For the most part they were a non-entity, which means they were good, I guess. Indiana got called for a lot of stuff, much of it quesitonable, but then they were also putting some hard hits on our players, so I guess it all evened out.

During intros Bales, Feaster and White got the most for Indiana until they introduced Lin Dunn as head coach. She actually got a standing ovation, and it was kind of nostalgic and nice. Katie Douglas and Catchings weren't there, nor was Tully (who could probably have rivaled Coach for applause). And of course LJ and Sue are still in Russia, though it was announced a couple of times to applause and cheering that their team (Spartak) had just won the Russian Championship. Katie, Kristin O'Neil, Ashley, Swin, Yo and Sheryl Swoopes got the most applause on our end. Oh, and Tanisha. They didn't even announce Santos as a reserve, so she kind of followed Swoopes out of the tunnel, and the PA guy awkwardly (but appropriately) added her name on.

The game started with Yo, Swoopes, Swin, Tanisha and Shyra. Swin's shot wasn't quite on initially, but she really loosened up as the game went on, and I'm optimistic about her contribution. A lot of the first half was like watching vintage 2001/2002 Storm basketball: it was kind of chaotic and a mess. We even got the classic "pass to a ref" play. Yo satisfied our lack of JB by missing several bunnies, but she was really working the boards hard, and scored our first bucket.

Indiana jumped out to a small lead, and we missed chippies and lay-ups. Beck checked in after a couple of minutes to run the point, and I know that she wasn't perfect, but there's just a feel about the team that's off when Tanisha runs the point, and it "felt" better with Beck out there. Tanisha did some good things for us out there, don't get me wrong, but not as point guard. She doesn't have the court vision. I would really like to see us keep Beck as back-up PG. I will be extremely disappointed if we continue to try to force T into that role.

Sheryl came into the game for like 2 seconds, got knocked over, and had to go out immediately with what looked like a stinger in her elbow or shoulder. When she returned to the game she looked extremely stiff. But I was impressed with the work Yo did underneath, though she did hit the floor an alarming number of times, and was often very dramatic about lying there (and she's bigger than Betty, so it makes an impression), and Swin was very productive as well.

So like I said, the first half was mostly a mess. There were flashes on offense of what Coach Agler is trying to do, but all the gears weren't quite meshing. For the refs either. At one point T rolled into Yo, knocking her to the ground. They called a foul on the Fever, and sent Katie to the line. I was thinking "I really don't understand this game when they waived that point off and put Yo on the line. Whew.

Without much to cheer about, the crowd really got excited when Kristing O'Neil entered the game, and at the end of the 1st quarter as Doneeka Lewis lost her headband, Swin nearly lost the ball on a pass to A-rob that Ashley had to scramble to reclaim, with time running out she chucked the ball out to Kristin on the perimeter who shot and scored! That was probably the most excitement in the 1st quarter. 1Q: 19-18

Between quarters they ran this game where a bunch of kids (like 10 or so) take their shoes off and put them in Doppler's bucket. He then mixes them up and pours them out at the other end of the court, and they have to race down, find and put them on, then run back for a lay-up. It was chaos! Even the PA guy was laughing, and the little girl in the orange shoes put them on the wrong feet. It was amusing.

Our offense started to click a little bit at the end of the 1st and beginning of the 2nd quarter. It will be interesting to see how well it clicks with Sue at the helm (and Lauren's ability to knock down shots, of course). Kristin was very active, Doneeka contributed at times, Santos showed some good offensive moves. When Swin made a shot they started playing the riff from that "Money" song that they used to play for Betty. I guess we really have moved on. The half ended with a whimper and a turnover. We shot dismally, but out-scored the Fever in the paint 12-0 (not too surprising for a Coach Dunn team, I guess). HT: 33-33

Yo scored the first bucket of the 2nd half. She was really a work horse, and while I was skeptical, I'm now happy to have her on the team. Swin really smoothed her game out. Swoopes still looked stiff, but was very vocal. T started to score more, and even Ely looked decent (uneven, in that she'd make a bad move like dropping the ball out of bounds, then a good one like getting a block).

Towards the end of the 3rd we finally got a fast break (we may have had another, but it escapes me) to cheer about, Doneeka to Beck. Then Katie and Ashley started hooking up on the pick-and-rolls. They went a little overboard on that too, though, as Katie started to dish it to A-rob as she was further and further outside her range. You take those shots Katie. They both looked good, though, overall, and besides some good passes, Katie also had some picture-perfect 3s. We ended the 3rd still looking for something automatic on offense, but I guess that's where Sue and Lauren come in. 3Q: 50-48

Based on playing time and contribution, I'd say Kennedy and Roneeka are long shots. I think that puts Beck, Kristin and Doneeka up for the last two spots, though I could be counting wrong. Kennedy started the 4th strong, with an &1 off a pass up the floor from Katie, but we didn't see much else after that. On Indiana I thought Bales looked decent, and Tan White and LaToya Bond. Possibly #44 from Stanford too. I really tried to be objective and not be a homer, but Kristin did look pretty good out there. She was really energetic in doing the little things, and she was also one of the fastest players out there, running down an errant pass towards the end, passing even the player it was intended for.

I think final cuts will be made on Monday after a scrimmage with Indiana, which is allowed by the League because we each played 3 rather than 4 pre-season games. I'd like to see us hang on to Beck as back-up point (please). We didn't get to see Kristin in that role, so I can't speak to her ability there, but if we hang on to her I believe she'll be an asset.

Run-off:

The Game Production crew was busy tonight. It was like they were throwing everything new at us that they could think of. There was a new De-fense prompt. I can't remember even one instance of "Let's Go Storm" but they were doing "Everybody clap your hands" like every 5 minutes. I didn't mind it; for curiosity's sake it was interesting to see that thousands of people could be induced to clap very quickly in unison...I'd previously thought that there was a threshold on the tempo, but that theory was disproven tonight. However, let's be judicious with its application...perhaps once a quarter or so? That said, you could keep playing it in a continuous loop, in my opinion, if I never had to hear that "De-o" thing ever, ever again. That thing sends me into convulsions. I can't explain why, it just does. Why?! Why has this made it to Seattle? I always felt a certain superiority that we didn't do this at Storm games. Must we sink to a lower level? Lose the De-o.

Pre-game a dance studio came out and did some routines. A little bit of Thriller zombie action and some other dancing.

Anthem sung by Marvin Shield Jr. from the US Air Force, stationed at McChord AFB. It was straightforward. I liked that the Dance Troupe held the flag in the middle so that I didn't have to crane my neck up to the rafters.

Yo and Sheryl were our captains for the "Junior Captains" segement, who signed the ball for the kids in the middle, and Tan White represented Indiana.

There's a new thing (I think) this year called "High Five Kids." Tonight it was James and Janice (not quite "kids" but still looking very happy).

They did a bit called "One on One" with Roneeka and Doneeka interviewing one another about their favorite things. Mostly they argued that one had stolen the other's "favorite" and it was pretty amusing. I don't know what the first question was (answer was "someone I didn't hear", Mariah Carey and Alicia Keyes, so I figure it had to do with singers), car (black or white Range Rover, depending on the twin), superpower (invisible, though there was some argument that at one time one wanted to fly), movie (Diary of a Mad Black Woman).

Half time was a couple of teams of young girls scrimmaging.

Tia Jackson was in the house palling around with KB. She was introduced on the Arenavision later to a very warm welcome from the fans.

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