Silver Stars hand Storm first loss

SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Silver Stars just keep coming out on top against the Seattle Storm.

Sophia Young scored 23 points, Becky Hammon added 20 and San Antonio defeated Seattle 87-72 Saturday to give the Silver Stars their sixth straight win over the Storm.

“I just think at the moment they’re very well connected,” Seattle center Lauren Jackson said. “They’re good.”

Hammon, who came into the game in a shooting slump, made 6 of 15 shots from the floor, including 4 of 10 from 3-point range.

“I just needed to get my legs underneath me and get my timing back a little bit,” she said. “Happens when you’re a shooter. You go into slumps. You just keep shooting and you shoot yourself out of it.”

Helen Darling added 14 points and Ann Wauters had 10 for the Silver Stars.

Swin Cash scored 15 points to lead Seattle. Jackson, the WNBA’s reigning MVP, had 14 points and seven rebounds in the Storm’s first loss of the season in their fourth game.

Darling scored seven points in an 8-0 run that gave the Silver Stars a 30-17 lead at the end of the first quarter.

San Antonio stretched its lead to as many as 18 points in the second quarter, and went into the break up 43-30.

The Storm, who came into the game with three consecutive second-half comebacks, got within 50-47 on Jackson’s jumper with 3:51 left in the third.

But Erin Buescher hit two 3-pointers to give San Antonio a 62-53 lead to end the quarter.

Seattle cut the lead to eight at the 5:02 mark in the fourth quarter, but Young scored eight of her 10 fourth-quarter points to put the Silver Stars back in control.

“I think we had a couple of opportunities to break the ice and get through, and we didn’t take advantage of it,” Storm coach Brian Agler said. “In the past we’ve been able to do that.”

The two teams meet again on Friday when San Antonio visits Seattle.