Tulsa Shock drop fifth straight
SEATTLE, WA.—Glory Johnson had 21 points, Jordan Hooper scored in double figures for the first time as a professional, and Odyssey Sims had a career high six assists, but it wasn’t enough to top the Seattle Storm (2-5) on Sunday night as the Tulsa Shock (0-5) closed out their first road trip of the 2014 WNBA season with a 62-60 loss, their fifth straight.
In all the Shock have lost four of their first five games by less than five points. Thus far, the Tulsa Shock are the only winless team in the WNBA. Seattle’s Crystal Langhorne led all scorers with 23-points and her teammate Sue Bird had four helpers in the Storm’s lowest scoring win this season.
The game was a close one all the way up until the final minute. After Bird missed on a three point attempt, the Shock’s Skylar Diggins drove to the Seattle net and scored to cut the home team’s lead to two points with 33 seconds left. Then, when Seattle’s Camille Little missed a shot that was rebounded by Langhorne, Diggins stole the ball and called time with 13.9 to go.
The Shock tried to set up a play for Diggins to tie the score, but on the ensuing inbound Little tied her up to force a jump ball. Little won the jump and deflected the ball to Bird who ran out the clock, handing Seattle the win and giving Tulsa it’s fourth 0-5 start to a season in the five years since the team departed Detroit for Oklahoma in 2009.
It has been a season of near misses so far, and Shock head coach Fred Williams was optimistic that his young team would turn the corner.
“We just need to continue to work hard. It’s better being in close games than blowouts.” Coach Williams said. “I think this team is really learning over the course of this season. We’re a team that when we step on the floor, we want to be competitive for 40 minutes and I think we’re establishing that right now.”
The Shock’s high scorer Glory Johnson admitted that the team chemistry needs a little work to get where they want to be.
"We are still young and a lot of the team is different this season compared to a lot of the other teams.” Johnson stated, “At the same time, we get along very well and work together well. In a couple more games, we’ll get more comfortable, feel each other out and we’ll be fine.”
The Shock return to the BOK Center this Friday night to face the Phoenix Mercury, a team that handed them their only lopsided defeat this season last Wednesday night, (100-78). That game is the first of a four-game home stand that will see The New York Liberty, Los Angeles Sparks, and the Storm come to town in the next week-and-a-half.