Courtney Paris gives a little encouragement to a Seattle player on Tuesday night. Photo Greg Duke, Tulsa Today
TULSA, OK—The Tulsa Shock, fresh off of a 101-93 victory over the Chicago Sky on opening night looked to make it two in a row when they hosted the Seattle Storm last night in the BOK Center. The Shock held the Storm to just 15 points through the game’s first 20 minutes and showed an impressive amount of defense as the Shock defeated the Storm 68-45 moved to 2-1 on the young season.
The Shock are also posting a winning record for the fits time since relocating from Detroit in 2010.
Karima Christmas sets the play on offense on Tuesday night. Photo Greg Duke Tulsa Today
Tulsa took advantage of the fact that Seattle could not break through a lid on the Tulsa basket in the first half and roared out to a 21-7 advantage at the end of the first quarter. By halftime they tacked on 19 more points and lead 40-15 at the intermission. There was a scary moment in the final seconds of the first half when Odyssey Sims grabbed a rebound and raced down court toward the Storm basket. She went for the layup and came down hard on her knee.
She was fouled on the play and after initially being helped to the bench by her teammates they helped her back to the line so she could shoot the foul shots, which she missed. She did not return and as of the end of the game she had not been evaluated as to the severity of the injury.
Riquna Williams put in 11 points against Seattle. Photo Greg Duke Tulsa Today
Four Tulsa players, Plenette Pearson (12), Sims (12), Riquna Williams (11) and Skylar Diggins (11) were in double-figures and Courtney Paris grabbed 11 rebounds. Skylar Diggins also scored her 1000th career point in the third quarter when she drained two foul shots.
The Shock defense effectively shut down the Seattle offense and only allowed one player, Renee Montgomery (10), into the double figure category and reducing the two Seattle superstars, Crystal Langhorne and Sue Bird, to single digit supporting cast members.
Overall, head coach Fred Williams was pleased with his team’s performance but there is still room to improve.
Skylar Diggins eclipsed the 1000 point mark on Tuesday night. Photo Greg Duke Tulsa Today
“The young ladies really worked hard, and I feel we improved our defense for three quarters.” Williams said, “We really set the tone early on, Pearson and Paris really clean the boards well and overall it was a great team effort.”
The Shock travel to San Antonio for an afternoon game on Sunday and then return to Tulsa next Tuesday for a second game with the Stars on Tuesday morning with the tipoff set for 11:30am.