Archive for February, 2011

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Around the Web: Feb. 4

Friday, February 4th, 2011

- Jayda Evans of the Seattle Times talks to Storm Head Coach Brian Agler about Camille Little re-signing with Seattle earlier this week and the rest of the team’s plans for free agency.

- While in town, Agler also dropped by the Northwest Sports Tonight studios to discuss the team’s offseason with host Chris Egan:

- Also see highlights from last week’s Sports Star of the Year Awards, including Karen Bryant being presented with the Executive of the Year honor.

- Super Bowl XLV in Dallas is just two days away and the Storm’s Swin Cash is one of three WNBA players (along with Marion Jones and Janel McCarville) featured in SI.com’s celebrity picks. If you can’t guess Cash’s choice, you don’t know the die-hard Steelers fan and Pittsburgh-area native very well.

- One BleacherReport.com contributor celebrated National Girls and Women in Sports Day with a list of the top 10 players in WNBA history, including Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson.

Bird may never be the MVP, but she’s been instrumental in making Lauren Jackson a three time MVP. She may not be the star of stars at the Olympics or the World Championships, but they keep asking her to come back to Team USA because she puts the star of stars in position to be so.

- A lot of activity involving former Storm players during the first week of free agency. Shyra Ely, returning after missing all of last season with a knee injury, signed with her hometown Indiana Fever. Ashley Walker is headed to training camp with the San Antonio Silver Stars. And Loree Moore, who was with the Storm in training camp last season before having to undergo knee surgery, is also going home to play for the Los Angeles Sparks. Keep up with all the action via WNBA.com’s Player Movement Central.

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Storm Hosts GoGirlGo! Event

Thursday, February 3rd, 2011
Storm Photos

Storm Photos

The Storm celebrated both the 25th annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day and a new partnership with the Women’s Sports Foundation’s GoGirlGo! program on Wednesday by highlighting the benefits of GoGirlGo! in an event at the Storm business offices in Interbay.

After mingling, enjoying food and beverages and having the opportunity to take photos with a cutout of the Storm’s championship lineup, attendees young and old heard from Storm CEO Karen Bryant, the Seattle Director of the Women’s Sports Foundation Sheri Gazitt and Storm Head Coach Brian Agler about the importance of sports and physical activity in general for girls.

Bryant shared her own story of achieving her dream of playing for the Washington Huskies at a time when the only professional future she saw in sports as a woman was as a broadcaster. Now more than a decade into her career as a sports executive, Bryant still sees the benefit of her experience as an athlete in terms of her ability to handle adversity like she once faced on the court.

Gazitt explained how she went from a volunteer working with the GoGirlGo! curriculum to the WSF’s representative in Seattle, one of four satellite offices around the country. After seeing her own daughters and their peers respond to GoGirlGo!’s critical messages about exercise, healthy eating and dealing with the issues girls deal with on a daily basis, she was inspired to spread the program throughout the area. Seattle is now a demonstration community for GoGirlGo!

The partnership between the Storm and GoGirlGo! will see the Storm use the GoGirlGo! curriculum for girls ages 8-12 this spring. Stay tuned for more details on how you can get involved with the Storm and GoGirlGo!

After wrapping up, Gazitt invited some of the past GoGirlGo! participants in attendance to share what they like about GoGirlGo! as well as their favorite sports.

In his speech, Agler discussed how his daughter, Taylor, has grown up knowing only a world where women’s professional basketball is a reality. However, he pointed out, women’s basketball has made an impact on his son Bryce as well. Agler related the story that when he played basketball with his son growing up, Bryce’s “teammates” included WNBA stars like Lisa Leslie, Katie Smith and Sheryl Swoopes as well as NBA stars of the day like Gary Payton.

Storm Photos

WSF Seattle Director Sheri Gazitt speaks to the crowd. (Storm Photos)

Storm Photos

Brian Agler signs autographs for young fans. (Storm Photos)

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Winning Start in Euroleague Playoffs

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

The Euroleague postseason kicked off yesterday as teams played Game 1 of their best-of-three eighth-final series. All three teams with Storm ties moved halfway to the quarterfinals by winning the opener at home.

Ros Casares Valencia had the easiest time of things, swamping MKB Euroleasing Sopron 84-56. Ros Casares led by just six at the break before outscoring Sopron 40-18 in a dominant second half. Ros Casares was excellent on defense, holding Sopron to 35.8 percent shooting and forcing 20 turnovers. The Spanish team really clamped down on 2010 Storm draft pick Tijana Krivacevic, who missed all seven of her shot attempts. The offense was supplied by the trio of Rebekkah Brunson and Edwige Lawson (16 points apiece) and Katie Douglas (15). Jana Vesela started and played a team-high 31 minutes, finishing with six points and six rebounds.

UMMC Ekaterinburg needed a fourth-quarter comeback to edge Rivas Ecopolis. Down 50-47 in the fourth quarter, Ekaterinburg scored 10 unanswered points. Rivas Ecopolis still closed within two points on a DeWanna Bonner and-one with 2:50 to play, but would not score again as Ekaterinburg hung on for the 63-58 win. On a night when stars Candace Parker and Cappie Pondexter struggled, Sandrine Gruda stepped up to score a game-high 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting with eight rebounds. Svetlana Abrosimova was big off the bench, contributing nine points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Bonner had 19 points and nine boards.

Meanwhile, Sparta&K Moscow Region came back against longer odds after trailing 52-45 at the start of the final period. Sparta&K dominated the last 10 minutes, outscoring Beretta-Famila Schio 20-8 to win 65-60. Sue Bird had assists on back-to-back Sonja Petrovic scores in the final two minutes to salt the game away. She handed out seven total assists to go with 10 points. Jelena Milovanovic scored 23 points and Epiphanny Prince 16 for Spartak. Liron Cohen scored 18 points and Janel McCarville had a big double-double (15 points, 14 rebounds) for Schio.

The three teams will head out on the road looking for a sweep on Friday in Game 2 of the series.

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