Barbara Turner is back in Seattle as a member of the Houston Comets. Released by the Storm in the team’s final cut, Turner joined the Comets at the start of June and has gotten an opportunity to start two games in the absence of injured WNBA legend Sheryl Swoopes, averaging 7.2 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.

“Things definitely worked out for the best,” Turner said before the Comets practiced Thursday afternoon. “I’m happy with my new team. They’ve welcomed me with open arms. I feel very comfortable.”

“It’s great,” said Storm Head Coach Anne Donovan. “I think Barbara landed in the perfect spot. Barbara’s one who looks to play minutes, and in Houston she’s a most-time starter. She’s doing a great job for them, so it will be good to see her out there.”

The decision to cut Turner and keep Shyra Ely as the backup small forward remains something of a contentious one. While she feels it worked out for the best, Turner expressed regret about skipping Game 7 of her Turkish team’s Finals series to return to Storm camp, feeling it was too late by that point for her to beat out Ely. Donovan, for her part, wasn’t surprised that Turner got picked elsewhere.

“I was surprised it didn’t come sooner, to be honest,” she said.

Turner was a fan favorite during her rookie season with the Storm, so it will be interesting to see how she is received by KeyArena tomorrow.

“I’m sure they’re going to be very supportive and I’m going to be excited to be in that atmosphere,” said Turner, “but once the ball goes up I’m going to be concerned with the game and trying to get a win.”

On the Storm side, the big storyline at Thursday’s practice was rookie Katie Gearlds, who had a whirlwind trip back to the Midwest. It started with a career game – 17 points and six boards – Tuesday at Chicago. Wednesday, with the Storm visiting Indianapolis, Gearlds had a street named “Katie Gearlds Way” in her honor in her native Beech Grove. Later that day, she played her first regular-season WNBA game at Conseco Fieldhouse but struggled, shooting 1-for-8 from the field.

“She had a great game at Chicago,” said Donovan. “We saw the Katie that played throughout most of training camp play in Chicago – very comfortable and confident. Then we go to Indiana and, very much like a rookie, up and down a little bit. You saw a little bit more of her rookie side in the Indiana game.”

Gearlds dismissed the notion that her return home had anything to do with the game.

“If anything, there was no pressure,” she said. “I was playing in front of people I love in a gym I’ve played countless number of games in. I’ve knocked down countless numbers of shots in that gym. It’s ten minutes from home, so there was no pressure.”

In the context of the discussion about the Storm’s zone offense, I asked whether Gearlds felt she missed shots she should have made or whether she could have gotten better looks.

“Some of the shots I took were definitely shots I felt like I should have made,” she answered. “We watched the first half and I missed four threes in the first half. Maybe one was kind of sketchy if I should have shot it. Those are shots that I’m going to knock down. I still feel very confident with it.”

Gearlds called yesterday’s street renaming “nice. There were some people there, some friends and family, some of my old teachers – community members who are high up in Beech Grove, so to speak. It was nice. I got to climb the ladder and cut the ribbon off the street sign. It’s definitely something that not a lot of people can say they have.”

The media got a surprise at Friday’s Storm practice. After being out all week due to illness, including missing last night’s loss at Sacramento, Lauren Jackson returned to the court for practice and it looks like she will play tomorrow when the Storm hosts the Minnesota Lynx (7:00 p.m., 1150 AM KKNW, ).

“Honestly, I feel good,” said Jackson. When asked if she’ll start, Jackson emphatically responded, “Heck yeah – I better.”

Storm Coach Anne Donovan was, typically, a bit more reserved in that regard, saying “it looks good” for Jackson to play against the Lynx.

“We’ll still watch her, and if she goes backwards at all, we would change that, but she looks good.”

Jackson is looking for privacy with regards to her health, but called the last week “a bit of a scare” and indicated that tests came up negative.

Sue Bird went through practice (skipping only shooting drills) despite a little inevitable swelling in her left knee after the flight. Bird said she was worried about how much she would be able to play during shootaround, but the knee felt better after a lengthy warm-up and some treatement prior to the game.

“I felt better in the game than I have any time in practice the last couple of days,” Bird said.

Bird downplayed the role of Jackson’s absence in her season-high 21 points, saying it was more about how the Monarchs defend on the perimeter (”equal opportunity” defense, she termed it to laughs, meaning Sacramento doesn’t adjust much to opposing personnel). However, her teammate and friend Jackson called it a “good chance for Sue to really get her game going, which she did.”

The Storm got good news and bad news on the injury front at Wednesday’s practice.

Sue Bird, who had missed two days of practice because of a right quad contusion and swelling in her left knee, was able to practice. An MRI on Bird’s left knee was negative, but she wore a thin white sleeve on the knee. Bird did not participate in the shooting drill that ended practice, instead icing the knee on the sideline.

Bird said afterwards that she first experienced swelling Sunday morning, and that it was something of a concern because she didn’t have an explanation as to why. Also, this is the knee that Bird has had surgery on twice (she tore her left ACL in college and had microfracture surgery on the same knee after the 2003 WNBA season).

An MRI was negative and Bird is icing the knee nearly constantly to get any swelling out and reduce the discomfort. She hopes to play against the Monarchs, but will know more after this afternoon’s flight to Sacramento.

Bird also said she’ll have to have another MRI at some point when a game is not so near so that doctors can inject dye into the knee to get a better look at it.

Jackson is still not feeling well and is undergoing further evaluation. For precautionary reasons, she will not travel to Sacramento with the Storm and is out of tomorrow’s game.

“We’re just keeping her here with the doctors and trying to get her well,” said Storm Head Coach Anne Donovan.

The Storm is in much better position to play without Jackson this season than last year, when the team went 1-3 when Jackson did not play. Two of those games came under similar circumstances, where Jackson was unexpectedly unavailable. Seattle won at Los Angeles last June when Jackson did not travel but lost to Sacramento on July 18 when plantar fasciitis kept her out (that was also the day of the sale of the Sonics & Storm).

Although Donovan was noncommittal, Wendy Palmer will likely step into Jackson’s starting position, with Tye’sha Fluker and Ashley Robinson available as reserve posts. Shyra Ely could be an option as well. Sacramento, which just lost DeMya Walker to a season-ending knee injury, has been playing a lot of smallball under former Storm assistant Jenny Boucek. 6-3 Nicole Powell, usually a small forward, has seen extensive action at power forward.

Katie Gearlds really shot the ball well when the Storm worked against the practice squad. That will translate into a game sooner than later, and the couple of baskets Katie had at the end of last Saturday’s loss might have helped that process.