Shock calms the Storm, 84-75

Being in the middle of tornado alley, Tulsa has seen it's share of storms. The city has also gotten pretty good at surviving them. Using that logic, it was little surprise that the Tulsa Shock (5-22) held off the Seattle Storm (22-4) to win their first home game since June 4. The win snapped Tulsa's seven-game losing streak.

Scholanda Robinson had the best night of her career, notching 21 points while Ivory Latta turned in another solid performance with 15 points as the Shock handed the WNBA's best team their fourth loss of the season. Sue Bird led Seattle with 19 points and teammate Lauren Jackson added 18 as the Storm fell to 22-4 on the season. "Tulsa has played hungry all year - They work hard, they play hard, they try to make things happen and tonight they did and took advantage of the opportunities," said Seattle coach Brian Agler.

"It feels really good," said Robinson. "We put a great game together from beginning to end. We beat the best team in our league and it just shows what a great team we are. When we come to okay our game and we play for 40 minutes, we can beat anybody."

The Shock did just that, playing solid basketball from the opening tip straight through to the finish. A back-and-forth first quarter saw Tulsa hang with Seattle as the Storm took a 19-18 lead into the first break. The Shock then outscored the Storm 30-22 in the second quarter, taking command of the game. Amber Holt completed a four-point play with just under 30-seconds remaining in the first half before Keisha Brown hit a trey within one second of the buzzer as the Shock took a 48-41 lead into half-time.

Robinson then took charge, scoring 12 points in the third as the Tulsa lead expanded to nine at the end of the quarter. The Shock used a 6-0 through the mid-point of the final quarter to pull ahead by 13 points with 5:29 remaining. Seattle had plenty of chances to close the gap, but failed down the stretch, missing on seven of their final attempts from the field.

A Svetlana Abrosimova three-pointer with just over a minute remaining cut Tulsa's lead to five, but Jennifer Lacy came through from the charity stripe, connecting on four attempts from the line in the final 30-seconds. When it was all said and done the Shock escaped with an 84-75 win and all 3,697 fans in attendance at the BOK Center erupted in celebration.

"The more important part of our system is being able to not turn it over and battle people on the boards," said Shock coach Nolan Richardson. "Tonight we held our own on the boards and played good defense. (Seattle) struggled to get some easy shots which we expected them to make all the time anyway."

The Shock now prepare for an extended road trip with games at Los Angeles and Seattle this weekend, then at San Antonio on Friday, August 13 before they return home on Saturday, August 14. With just two games remaining the Shock announced that season tickets are now on sale for the 2011 WNBA season, with some seats as low as $99. Tickets for the two remaining home games and season tickets for the 2011 season are available by calling 599-WNBA.

        1 

        2 

        3 

        4 

        F 

Seattle 

        19 

        22 

        18 

        16 

        75 

Tulsa 

        18 

        30 

        20 

        16 

        84 

Attendance: 3,697. Officials: Lamont Simpson, Felicia Grinter, Jeff Smith. Time of game: 2:02.

Seattle (26/58, 44.8%) - Bird 19, Jackson 18, Wright 15, Cash 13, Willingham 5, Abrosimova 3, Little 2.

Tulsa (25/54, 46.3%) - Robinson 21, Latta 15, Jackson 11, Ohlde 8, Holt 7, McCants 6, Crossley 5, Lacy 4, Black 4, Brown 3.