Riley And Hammon Boost Silver Stars Over Shock

By Tom Valenti: SPM MI Writer
Posted Monday, July 28, 2008

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - The Detroit Shock took on San Antonio Sunday night at the Palace in their first home game since the melee broke out against Los Angeles last Tuesday. Detroit, hampered by suspensions and an injury, fought hard but San Antonio was too much in the second half. The Silver Stars went on to win 76-64.

Detroit will head into the Olympic break on a four-game losing streak and will fall to 16-11, though still remaining in first place in the Eastern Conference. The Silver Stars improve to 18-9 and hold the WNBA’s best record.

“I think we’re a tired a basketball team, especially our guards,” head coach Bill Laimbeer said. ”I’m playing our guards so many minutes. We’re missing our normal routine in the way we do things and playing these good basketball teams we are at a disadvantage.”

Sunday night’s game was the second and final meeting of the regular season series between these two title contenders, San Antonio taking both games. This game could have showcased a possible future WNBA Finals match up.

Detroit played the game without four-time All-Star Cheryl Ford, who tore her right ACL Tuesday trying to restrain Plenette Pierson from getting further involved in the melee. Ford will be out for the remainder of the season, including the playoffs. Veteran Sheri Sam was serving her one-game suspension and Pierson will be have two more games left on her suspension after the break. Shock assistant coach Rick Mahorn was not on the bench either. The former Bad Boy is still serving his two games.

In the Silver Stars first meeting this season with Detroit, Sophia Young scored 27 points and had eight rebounds. However, in this meeting she only scored 11 but matched her previous effort with eight rebounds. Becky Hammon was the leading scorer for San Antonio with 23, Ann Wauters and Ruth Riley both added 14.

"They definitely missed Cheryl and Plenette," Riley said. "Those are two big presences in their lineup."

“This is big, especially with all of the parity in the West," San Antonio coach Dan Hughes said. "Every game is going to be big the way our conference is going.”

Deanna Nolan scored 15 in the first half for Detroit and helped them take a one-point lead into the locker room, 35-34. San Antonio had gone on an 8-1 run in the last three minutes of the half to make Detroit’s lead extremely slim.

“I’m disappointed in some of our players right now and we have to address that," Laimbeer said. "We need this time off and we need to recuperate and regenerate.”

The third quarter though was just too much San Antonio. They outscored Detroit by 11 in the stanza and headed into the fourth up 57-51. Detroit appeared deflated throughout the entire second half, and shot only 38 percent for the game. Their need for both physical and mental rest was apparent to most in the arena.

Nolan, however, did look good on offense, scoring a game-high 25 points and hitting 10-of-17 from the floor. Olympian Katie Smith finished with 13 and Kara Braxton had 10 points and nine rebounds.

"I'm so happy that we've gotten to the break," said Nolan, who has played the entire season with leg injuries. "It will be a pleasure to just rest and relax."

However, there's a slim chance that Nolan might not get much of a vacation. She said Sunday that both she and Phoenix point guard Kelly Miller would be the alternates for the Russian team if Hammon got injured before the Olympics.

"I would have loved to have gone, but they decided they needed a point guard," she said. "I'd still go if they needed me, but they might take Kelly because she's a point guard."

Laimbeer plans to give the Shock a nine-day break now to rest and re-energize.