Non-Olympian Lennox leads Storm past Lynx with season-high 23

Seattle had two Olympians on the floor, but a teammate with a more modest resume stole the show.

The Storm’s Betty Lennox scored 17 of her season-high 23 points in the second half to lead the Storm past the Minnesota Lynx 70-55 Friday night at Minneapolis.

Sue Bird, who will play for Team USA in the Olympics, scored 12 points and Lauren Jackson, who will play for Australia in Athens, added 11. It marked the first time in seven games that Jackson was not Seattle’s leading scorer.

“This was about us going out and playing our style of basketball and getting our character back,” said Lennox, referring to a 80-55 rout Tuesday at Houston.

Vanessa Hayden scored 12 points and Svetlana Abrosimova had nine points and nine rebounds to lead the Lynx, who ended a six-game home winning streak.

Minnesota had an Olympian on the sideline, playing its second straight game without Katie Smith. The WNBA’s third-leading scorer (18.8), Smith is on the injured reserve list with a bruised knee. She is expected to recover in time to join Team USA in Athens.

Shock 88, Liberty 79: At Auburn Hills, Mich., Cheryl Ford had 19 points and nine rebounds to help Detroit beat New York.

Swin Cash added 15 points and seven of Detroit’s franchise-record 28 assists, while Ruth Riley added 12 points and nine rebounds. The Shock, who were 0-2 against the Liberty this season, set a season high in points.

Becky Hammon and Elena Baranova had 12 points each to lead New York, which had its three-game winning streak snapped.

Mystics 69, Sun 68: At Washington, rookie Alana Beard scored 14 points to lead the Mystics to a victory over Connecticut.

Mercury 68, Silver Stars 59: At San Antonio, Anna DeForge scored 23 points to lead Phoenix to a victory over the Silver Stars, who played only hours after the resignation of coach Dee Brown.

Phoenix won its fourth straight game while San Antonio, which was coached by assistants Shell Dailey and Vonn Read, lost its fifth straight game.