Silver Stars hand Shock 101-85 loss

The San Antonio Silver Stars (10-15), led by Becky Hammon's 22 points, put on a shooting clinic in a 101-85 win over the Tulsa Shock (4-21) Friday night before 5,203 fans at the BOK Center. San Antonio shot 63 percent from the field, including 9-of-16 from three point range as they cruised past the pink-clad Shock on breast health awareness night. The Silver Stars saw six players, including all five starters, score in double-digits.

"That was an incredible night shooting," said Shock head coach Nolan Richardson of San Antonio's effort. "It seems that the BOK Center has been producing some of the greatest figures of shooting the basketball that I've ever seen."

Ivory Latta and Scholanda Robinson led the way for the Shock with 19 and 17 points, respectively. Richardson was quick to praise Latta for her effort and leadership on the court.

"She's a warrior, and that's what we needed on our ball club," he said. "She has really upped the team's morale because of the fact that we're not winning, so you better have someone that is talking the game a little bit differently. She does a great job of that for us, there is no question she is a leader"

Tulsa opened the game on an 11-4 run before San Antonio battled back to tie the game at 18-18 at the end of the first quarter. Edwige Lawson-Wade scored seven of her 17 points in the opening quarter to lead all scorers. 

The Silver Stars took over the lead two minutes into the second quarter on a fade away jumper by Roneeka Hodges. They went on to expand their lead to as many as seven before the Shock pulled back to tie the game at 39-39 on a Latta trey with just under two minutes left. San Antonio responded with an 8-0 run to close the half, taking a 47-39 lead into the locker room.

Tulsa would pull within five points early in the third quarter before Hammon took over and led San Antonio to double-digit leads. The Shock closed the quarter with a 9-4 run to pull them back within eight points. Lawson-Wade hit a pair of free-throws with less than a second remaining to take a 71-63 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Shock narrowed the deficit to five points on a pair of free-throws from Jennifer Lacy 34-seconds into the quarter, but that would be as close as they could get as the Silver Stars enjoyed one of their best shooting nights of the season before eventually escaping with a 16-point win.

The loss runs the Shock's most recent losing streak to six in a row. Richardson said that all the losses are taking a toll on both he and the team. "It's got to be weighing on them, it's got to be weighing on the coaching staff and it is certainly weighing on me because I'm not used to losing," he said. 

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Photos by: Kevin Pyle

Tulsa will have a tough road ahead if they hope to pull out of the streak. On Sunday they travel to Washington to take on the Mystics who are sitting at 14-10 with the third seed in the WNBA Eastern Conference. They return home on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. tip-off with the league-leading Seattle Storm. Tickets for the final three remaining home games are available at the BOK Center box office, online, or by calling 599-WNBA.

        1 

        2 

        3 

        4 

        F 

San Antonio 

        18 

        29 

        24 

        30 

        101 

Tulsa 

        18 

        21 

        24 

        22 

        85 

Attendance: 5,203. Officials: Kurt Walker, Tony Dawkins, Brenda Pantoja. Time of game: 2:01.

San Antonio (36/57, 63.2%) - Hammon 22, Young 17, Lawson-Wade 17, Snow 14, Holdsclaw 12, Hodges 11, Kelly 6, Darling 2.

Tulsa (30/66, 45.5%) - Latta 19, Robinson 17, Ohlde 9, Brown 9, Jackson 8, Holt 7, McCants 6, Lacy 4, Crossley 2, Black 2, Jones 2.