Seattle Storm Vs. San Antonio Silver Stars Final Score: San Antonio Snaps Losing Streak With 69-66 Win

Conventional wisdom in the preseason was that returning a veteran starting lineup that has been together for three years would help the Seattle Storm in their quest for a second consecutive title.

Yet the San Antonio Silver Stars beat the Storm 69-66 behind amazingly poised play from rookies off the bench down the stretch.

Silver Stars rookie forward Danielle Adams led the way with a game-high 23 points and six rebounds, including a decisive three point play in the final minute in the post that gave her team the winning margin. Fellow rookie reserve Danielle Robinson used her speed to race around the court and milk the clock with their three point lead and hit four clutch free throws after getting fouled to finish with 12 points and three assists.

Tanisha Wright, who finished with a team-high 18 points, scored the Storm's final basket with 2.2 seconds left to cut the deficit to one, but the Storm were without a timeout after Robinson's free throws and point guard Sue Bird was unable to get off a half court desperation heave in time.

Nevertheless, there were positives for the Storm.

Although Cash finished just behind Wright with 13 points, this was a far more balanced performance for the Storm and particularly from their characteristically short bench in which they got 13 combined points from Ashley Robinson and Katie Smith, who hit a big jumper in the last minute as well to bring the Storm within one. The Storm shot 4-for-9 from 3-point range in the fourth quarter to give themselves a chance to win.

However, turnovers ultimately did the Storm in with the team committing 20 and Cash having six herself. Although they cut down on those turnovers in the fourth quarter, throwing away possessions in the third hurt their chances to take the lead after being down at halftime.

The Storm travel to Minnesota next for a game against the Lynx on Saturday, who were idle tonight thus leaving the Storm at fourth place in the conference with only a game and a half separating first and fourth in a competitive Western Conference.

Seattle Storm Vs. San Antonio Silver Stars Halftime Score: Silver Stars Up 32-23

There was probably one thing that the Seattle Storm couldn't afford if they planned on beating the San Antonio Silver Stars in tonight's road game: getting outrebounded.

And although the Silver Stars have only established a one rebound advantage it's the one thing that stands out about their 32-23 halftime advantage.

Sophia Young is leading the way for the Silver Stars with game-highs of eight points and four rebounds while Becky Hammon is running their disciplined offense with five first half assists to go with three points.

But the big thing the Silver Stars are doing is defending the paint and denying the Storm high percentage points. Although the Storm are shooting 4-for-8 from the 3-point line, they're shooting 4-for-20 inside the arc. The Silver Stars have simply done an outstanding job stopping penetration and contesting any shots in the paint.

Tanisha Wright leads the Storm with seven points and two assists while Swin Cash has six points, but four of the Storm's 12 first half turnovers, another symptom of how difficult the Silver Stars have made it to execute.

Seattle Storm Visit San Antonio Silver Stars: Three Keys

The key to the Seattle Storm's matchup against the San Antonio Silver Stars tonight definitely begins with what they did so well against the Washington Mystics on Tuesday, albeit for a different reason: rebounding.

The Storm held the Mystics, the WNBA's best offensive rebounding team, to zero second chance points on Tuesday at KeyArena, by boxing out their post players and only giving up offensive rebounds to perimeter players. If the Storm can repeat that effort tonight against the Silver Stars, they could pick up a very important Western Conference road victory.

• Beating the Silver Stars on the offensive glass and getting second chance points: The Silver Stars have the lowest rebounding percentage in the league so the effort the Storm put out against the Mystics should be sufficient in containing them. However, the Storm also have an opportunity to get their own second chance points if they crash the offensive boards. Despite being an average defensive rebounding team, the Silver Stars allow the fourth least second change points in the league. If the Storm can win that rebounding battle and get high percentage shots inside, that will help a lot.
• Getting to the free throw line: Getting calls is always difficult on the road, but the Storm are a significantly better when they're going to the basket instead of settling for long jumpers. Unfortunately, they've had a tendency to do the latter this season and shoot themselves out of games.
  
• Cutting off guard penetration: The Silver Stars are a methodical team, but more importantly they're a very good ball handling team and don't turn the ball over much. More specifically, their guards like to penetrate and find open shooters after the defense collapses. If the Storm can find a way to stay in front of their guards - and not foul them on the way to the basket - they'll be able to stop a major part of the Silver Stars' offensive attack.

Seattle Storm Begin Road Trip With San Antonio Silver Stars On ESPN2

If you're looking for an example of parity in professional sports, look no further than the WNBA's Western Conference.

Entering the Seattle Storm's (7-4) contest against the San Antonio Silver Stars (7-4) tonight, three teams are tied at 7-4 with the Phoenix Mercury only narrowly leading the pack at 9-4.

In other words, there's a lot riding on tonight's nationally televised game in San Antonio and it will be the first of a string of tests on their ensuing three game road trip.

Prior to their current losing streak that has seen them fall from first to fourth in the conference, the Silver Stars were 7-1, only dropping a game without star forward Sophia Young, a candidate for the WNBA's soon-to-be-announced Top 15 WNBA Players of All Time list.

Kevin Pelton of StormBasketball.com took a look at their losing streak and described part of the problem in his Insider Preview for the game.

STORM: Insider Preview - Storm at San Antonio
The San Antonio offense, which scored at least 80 points in each of the season's first eight games, has been held below that mark the last three. Perhaps the problem is playing at home. The Silver Stars are just .500 in San Antonio (3-3), but a phenomenal 4-1 on the road.

One explanation for their change in fortunes is that they lost two to a New York Liberty team riding a four-game winning streak and the third to the Los Angeles Sparks in the first game after a coaching change. But another reason is their rebounding struggles - neither the Liberty nor the Sparks are particularly strong rebounding teams and the Silver Stars lost the rebounding battle to both. That was compounded by 16-for-68 3-point shooting over that span, which is even worse long-range accuracy than the Storm's early-season performance.

That certainly gives the Storm an opportunity, particularly if they continue their improved shooting and defensive intensity of late.

For more on the game, visit Pelton's preview at StormBasketball.com.