Big East WBB Media Day: Auriemma Sounds Off On Political Environment As His Huskies Still The Preseason Top Dogs In Move to Newer/Former Conference

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Nine years ago in what became the final preseason women’s basketball media day of the old Big East prestigious configuration, surrounded by the usual crowd hanging on every word, Connecticut Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma off the chit-chats ended up launching a few salvos at the Notre Dame hierarchy, which was about to steer the Irish to the Atlantic Coast Conference with several other prominent members as the great national realignment of powerful collegiate teams loomed on the horizon.

Now after seven years of dominating the American Athletic Conference with perfect regular and postseason records in league play in which just two of the games had single digit differentiations in the outcome, Auriemma returned Thursday with his Huskies and ended up launching more fireworks off a question on the presidential in-person voting moment arriving Tuesday.

This time there was no crowd surrounding him because like the Big East men’s event 24 hours earlier, the current climate dealing with the coronavirus forced the normally combo men’s/women’s gathering on the floor of Madison Square Garden in New York City to be held via webinar, though the upside of the altered state is every word on the topic is out there on video but if you haven’t seen or read of the moment elsewhere, a transcription will be provided near the bottom of this post.

So, in getting on with the normal business first, conference media day, pertaining to the national powerful Huskies, was not much different in news value than it had been the previous seven over at The American.

The coaches’ preseason poll was trotted out and UConn was a techno unanimous pick to win the conference blunted from every ballot under rules that the panel of Big East women’s coaches could not vote for their own teams.

Thus 10 were cast to the Huskies while defending champion DePaul picked up the remaining vote on the way to finishing second.

As for the representative school for individual awards, nothing new there either with junior guard Christyn Williams named Big East preseason player of the year and Paige Bueckers, the nation’s top recruit, named preseason freshman.

When UConn wasn’t part of Thursday’s discussion in terms of makeovers, the other noteworthy item among some others was the absence of Villanova coach Harry Perretta as one of the interviewees following his retirement at the end of his 42^nd season on the Main Line.

In his place is Wildcats alum Denise Dillon, who had a long run of success down Lancaster Ave. at Drexel in West Philadelphia near Center City.

But there’s still some rebuilding going on with the graduation of Mary Gedaka and Bridget Herlihy, thus Villanova being was picked seventh, which Dillon feels is about right for now.

But the Wildcats do have Maddy Siegrist, last season’s Big East freshman of the year breaking records held by all-time Nova star Shelly Pennefather. She is one of several unanimous picks to the all-conference preseason team.

With UConn departed, The American did not have a zoom event but on Wednesday South Florida, which has been traditionally the next best team to the Huskies, was the preseason pick with Temple finishing fifth.

The UConn exit also enabled the Big East to take over postseason tourney operations at the Mohegan Sun near New London, Connecticut as the AAC heads to Texas for its NCAA qualifying tourney, pending disruptions from Covid.

Temple’s Mia Davis shared preseason player of the year honors with Cincinnati’s Ilmar’l Thomas.

Meanwhile, back at the Big East virtual event, three sets of coaches were interviewed in separate sessions, Commissioner Val Ackerman and Mohegan Sun executive Amber Cox, who once was an aide to Ackerman in the Conference but now helps oversee the organization which will house the Big East women’s tournament the next three seasons, shared a session, and then Hall of Fame Auriemma and Williams and Bueckers shared the final session.

In terms of his return to the conference in these times, Auriemma noted the ease of travel.

“You’re getting home at a reasonable time, but we still have our share of charters (air) because of the teams in the Midwest, but the wear and tear on our players will be far more manageable,” he said.

“When they are allowed to attend games again, there will be many for our fans to attend, which they hadn’t been able to in the past, because our fans do travel.”

In terms of the overall vote for predicted finish following the Connecticut and DePaul top of the results were Marquette, St. John’s, Creighton, Seton Hall, Villanova, Butler, Xavier, Providence, and Georgetown.

As for the preseason team, the players picked, which included an extra due to a tie, were Connecticut’s Olivia Nelson-Ododa,Tennessee transfer Evina Westbrook, DePaul’s Lexi Held, Sonya Morris, St. John’s Leilani Correra and Qadashah Hoppie, Creighton’s Temi Carda, Marquette’s Selena Lott, Seton Hall’s Desiree Elmore, and Xavier’s A’riana Gray, and Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist.

Beyond all that, comments dealt with topics not addressed in the past, such as obviously coping with trying to have a season in the face of the coronavirus issues, social justice, and other items.

Schedules from a standpoint of league play have yet to be trotted out though the front portion with perhaps around four games to be played in December might begin to appear next week.

Which now brings us to where we started at the top of this post.

The interview with Auriemma included the usual fare of perspective and banter that has made him a media favorite in many quarters over the decades.

Then the issue of the current political climate came up and Auriemma was asked what it meant to him personally in terms of this year’s push on voting.

He didn’t name names, though his disdain for the White House occupant was telegraphed several years ago when he gave a negative response to whether the squad might visit upon invitation, should they win the national title, which they did not off an upset in the Women’s Final Four.

That said, if you haven’t found the video yet or reported remarks elsewhere, here’s most of the response to the personal feelings of voting in Tuesday’s election.

 “I’ve kind of experienced all of it from the time of being a kid and not being a citizen, and then from turning 18 and not being a citizen and I couldn’t vote, and becoming a political science major because I was fascinated with the process of how governments work, to becoming a citizen, living through the sixties, experiencing my mother becoming a citizen, but she can’t read, she can’t write, but she’s a great American.

 “And to be honest, I’ve never felt anything like I’m seeing and feeling in today’s world. Never. Not anytime in my life have I ever been so disgusted over so much what I see happening in the country.

 “And you know, the pandemic is one of the least of our problems. There’s a cure for the pandemic. It’ out there, it’s coming. I’m not sure there’s a cure for what’s going on in the country.

 “You can’t make a vaccine for some of the nonsense that’s been going on in this country. You can’t. There isn’t a vaccine for that.

 “The only cure you have is your vote. That’s it. There’s no vaccine. No one can inoculate you from the stuff that’s been happening in this country. The things that are being said. The way people are treating each other.

 “It’s just the most anger I’ve ever felt in my life about anything that’s has been going on in this world, in our world, in this world right now. In America, especially.

 “We as coaches, or teachers, or whatever. We’re always trying to tell people, `Hey, listen. Try to do the right thing.’ We don’t always do. Trust me. I’m as guilty as anybody.

 “I believe it was when we took the team to West Point. A lot of the time they talked about, ‘doing the hard right and not the easy wrong.’

“And I just think that right now, there’s just a lot of easy wrong being done. Why? It’s just so easy to be so angry, to be anti-humanity. It’s just so easy for people. I’ve never felt like this before, ever in my life.

 “And I’ve never had the kind of arguments, the kinds of discussions, the back and forth between close friends where you just say to yourself, Thank God, there’s a bond there because of what’s going on over there in this country, I see it, people who have been life-long friends, losing friendships over what’s going on right now.

 “The anger on both sides towards each other. Politicians lie. That’s just par for the course. You take a course in that when you become a politician. How to be a tremendous liar. So I’m not surprised by that, but, man, never in my life have I’ve seen anything like this. 

 “I feel for my grandkids. I really do. I really do.

 “I’m old enough I think, I didn’t vote in the 1916 election, I’m not that old, look, the easiest things people do when they reach a crisis of conscience is they come up with slogans, they come up with t-shirts, they come up with catchy sayings, they come up with logos, it seems like one giant Forest Gump movie, hey, let’s come up with an iconic saying, whatever it is.

 “Ok, I did my part. Let me put a sign up on my lawn. I did my part. I did my part. That’s as good as all the thoughts and prayers are coming from Washington for some victim when some crazy person, I don’t mean some mentally ill person, I mean someone who’s gotta be deranged, takes a gun and shoots up school kids.

 “Our thoughts and prayers are with you. That sounds good. It’ll be in the headlines. But when it becomes time to vote for any meaningful reform, nah, I’m not going there.

 “But it sounds good and I wear a t-shirt. And I support it. But when it becomes time to vote, nah, I’m not going there. Look I put the sign up on my lawn.

 “C’mon leave me alone. I did my part. But come Tuesday, nah, I’m not going there.

 “You see there’s the outward me that shows you I support change in this country but the inward me for a lot of people when I go vote, nah, not really. Because if it was true, we wouldn’t need signs. We wouldn’t need t-shirts, we wouldn’t need catchy slogans.

 “We wouldn’t need buttons. We wouldn’t need patches on our jerseys. But, yeah, don’t get me wrong. All these things are great. But you know what they all are?

 “They’re symbols of I care. I wanna do my part. 

 “Ok. Colin Kaepernick took a knee. So how did that work out for him. So now, everybody takes a knee. How’s that working out. How many white policemen did it stop, taking a knee. Huh?

 “But it looked good. So everybody’s doing these great things to show their support. 

 “But guess what.

 “Your support comes Tuesday. Tuesday. No slogans. No buttons. No T-shirts. No signs on your lawn. Just show up Tuesday and do the right thing.”   

 

 

Guru’s WNBA Report: Breanna Stewart Leads Seattle to a 3-0 Sweep of Las Vegas and Fourth League Championship

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

How sweep it is for the Seattle Storm who finished off the Las Vegas Aces 92-59 completing a 3-0 wipeout in Game 3 for their second WNBA title in three seasons and fourth overall Tuesday night at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., near Tampa/St. Petersburg.

 

Former Connecticut collegiate star Breanna Stewart who, along with ex-Huskies great Sue Bird, powered the Storm (18-4), earned her second playoffs MVP after both of them were on the sidelines last year because of injuries following their championship in 2018 over the Washington Mystics, who then came back and beat the Connecticut Sun in five games last year..

 

“It’s just a high level of basketball,” said Seattle coach Gary Kloppenburg of the competition in the league. This summer he had to fill in for Dan Hughes in Florida after Hughes was recommended not to go because of his cancer surgery at the beginning of last season.

 

 “I’m just proud of proud of our group,” Kloppenburg said. “They stayed together through a lot of weird stuff. Just kind of weird playing a season in the bubble, but it’s been historic for our team and the league.” 

 

The conclusion also completed a job well-done for the WNBA itself that fielded the entire league in the Florida “wubble” and executed in a coronavirus-shortened 22-game regular season with a delayed start in late July and the 12 teams playing virtually every other day until a larger gap occurred between the first two rounds and the semifinals in the playoffs.

 

Other than inconclusive Covid-19 results to three Seattle players that delayed the start of their semifinal series with the Minnesota Lynx by two days, the league made it through the summer 100 miles away from where the NBA is using the Wide World of Disney as their bubble without any player or coach producing a positive reading.

 

The league saw a major rise in television ratings across the summer and into the finals even while competing against major pro sports who would mostly be out of season, which was excellent since the players were motivated to use that platform in the cause of social justice and pushing a turnout for the coming presidential election.

 

The Aces’ Angel McCoughtry was behind what became the move to have the name of Breonna Taylor, the innocent Black medical worker gunned down by police in a botched raid in Louisville while she slept, on the back of their jerseys and when WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert handed out the championship trophy she began by mentioning Taylor’s name and several other Black  victims of police violence.

 

In finals history, the Storm after beating the Connecticut Sun for their first title 2-1 in 2004, have now in championship series play swept the Atlanta Dream 3-0 before going 3-0 on the Washington Mystics in 2018 and then this season going 3-0 over Las Vegas.

 

This game had a bit of a wrinkle compared to the first two in this round in that the Aces (18-4), who had swept Seattle 2-0 in the regular season to earn the top seed off a tie-breaker, got off to a fast start and seemed poised to perhaps extend things when Stewart went to the bench with her third foul.

 

But the Storm regrouped for a two-point lead at the end of the first period, went to the half ahead 43-34, and then, unlike the third period in the previous games that featured Aces runs, broke it wide open outscoring Las Vegas 32-14.

 

The differential grew to 35 near the end of the game though still setting a finals record when the result settled to a 33-point triumph.

 

Stewart finished with 26 points to become the first to go through all six combined semifinals and finals contests scoring more than 20 points in each.

 

“”You know I remember where I was last year during the WNBA Finals, “ said Stewart, who was on camera during the zoom interviews from the media in remote locations across the country, as she wore goggles and took swigs from a bottle of champagne during her session.

“There’s plenty of champagne in the bubble,” she joked of the extended celebration just ahead.

 

“I was with my family in North Carolina. And it was hard for me not to be upset because I wanted to be part of the league. To be able to be here to get through all that we’ve gone through as a team, obviously individually, it’s an amazing feeling.

 

“There’s so much you don’t know after rupturing my Achilles. … really proud of just being able to be back.”     

 

Jewell Loyd, the former Notre Dame great, had 19 points and nine rebounds, while Alysha Clark scored 10, and reserve Jordin Canada out of UCLA scored 15. Bird has five points and seven assists but with the game out of hand early in Seattle’s favor, she got to be a spectator on the bench during the closeout as Kloppenburg tried to get the rest of the Storm some playing time at the finish.

 

Despite rising to a very elite player category in a short amount of time since her graduation from UConn, where she won four NCAA titles, Stewart said she had just one thought in a season in which the Storm was favored at the outset as one of the few teams whose roster was in excellent shape arriving in Florida the first week in July.

 

“I wanted to win a ring, and that was the priority,” she said. “Whatever else comes, comes. But getting another ring, getting another opportunity to play with Sue was what was most important, and whether it was unanimous (her MVP), who cares.”   

 

Las Vegas, who had a tough five-game semifinals series with the Sun, rallying to take the last two games, the last one by three in a low-scoring finish, had a more difficult time than the Storm accessing the finals.

 

A’ja Wilson, the regular season MVP, had 18 points for the Aces while Jackie Young scored 11, and Carolyn Swords grabbed 10 rebounds.

 

This time, Seattle’s shooting from the field, while still hot, dipped under 50% to 38-for-80 for 48% opposed to 34% for Las Vegas.

 

“I thought our defense was resilient all the way through. I think the way we came out for the third was tremendous. Sort of took their will away,” Kloppenburg said.

 

Turnovers again bedeviled the Aces, committing 18 to Seattle’s six giving the opposition an 18-6 scoring advantage in the category, while the Storm owned the paint 44-24.

 

“Give all the credit in the world to Seattle, they’re a very fine basketball team,” said Las Vegas coach Bill Laimbeer, who won three crowns with the former Detroit Shock and been to several other finals. “They played very well in this series. It was very obvious that they have more weapons than we do. It was clear that they were the better team in this series.

 

“For the whole season, yeah, I’m so proud of our players. We came in shorthanded (Liz Cambage opted out and Kelsey Plum was injured). And then got more shorthanded. Three of our top six players are out,” he continued.

 

“We accomplished a lot. Not only did we get to the finals for the first time, we also learned a lot. Our players learned a lot. I think A’ja grew up. I think she understands what this league is about and her responsibility.

 “We got to know Angel McCoughtry,” he said of the free-agent acquisition in the offseason, whose entire pro career previously was in Atlanta. “She’s going to work on her body and come back stronger next year.

 

“It hurts right now for our players. I’ve been down this road numerous times, winning and losing in the Finals. This was not a brutal beat. They beat us. This wasn’t an emotional, brutal loss at the last buzzer.”

 

Looking to next season, Laimbeer said, “Making our team is going to be very difficult. Free agency is going to be interesting this year. We are a very good destination, not only for basketball but also for the quality of the town, the organization.”

 

Bird was asked whether the dynasty tag could be applied to this group and she referenced Minnesota in the last decade.

 

“Their core group won four in how many years, like six, seven years. So we’re close, but not quite there.”

There was a bit of controversy developing back home in the Northwest after a newspaper column referred to NFL Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson as the best athlete in Seattle history.

Asked whether Sue Bird was the greatest Seattle sports athlete of all time, Kloppenburg responded, saying, “... Yeah, incredible to think what she’s done through a couple of decades. Really unprecedented.

“I think the other side of that is the women’s game hasn’t gotten the respect, and partly because of the white guys that are writing those type of columns. 

“Y’all white guys, wake up out there, man. You’ve got a whole tremendous gender that can flat-out play basketball. So maybe it’s time to move into the mid-century.”

Bird, who is about to turn 40 and is the second oldest player to win a WNBA title, and just finished her 17th season all with Seattle.

“I think the fact that I’ve been able to do it in different decades, with the same franchise, not many people can say that,” Bird said. “To recreate it over time and stay at a high level over time is definitely something I’m proud of, because it hasn’t been easy. 

 

 

 

Guru’s WNBA Report: Stewart and Bird Key Seattle 2-0 Finals Series Lead on Las Vegas

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

The Seattle Storm are just one win away from a 3-0 sweep for a second WNBA title in the last three seasons and a record-tying fourth overall after beating the Las Vegas Aces 104-91 in Game 2 of the best-of-five championship series Sunday afternoon at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., near Tampa/St. Petersburg.

 

Both teams finished the corona virus-shortened 22-game regular season 18-4 tied atop the league but the Aces’ win over the Storm on the final day completing a 2-0 series sweep earned Las Vegas the top seed, though both teams got hold of double byes into the semifinals.

 

Once there, Seattle swept the fourth-seeded Minnesota Lynx 3-0 while the Aces were extended deep into Game 5 by the seventh seeded Connecticut Sun (10-12) three points short of forcing overtime and another point under from what would have been a return to the finals for the second straight season.

 

While it took a bit of work off the first two for Seattle to gain domination in Game 3 in the series with Minnesota (14-8), so far the Storm has a grip on broom handles for another sweep unless the Aces can stay alive in Game 3 Tuesday (7 p.m., ESPN) and potentially keep going to gain an all-time comeback since the five-game configuration in the title round was introduced in the last decade.

 

Once again the University of Connecticut duo of past and deep past NCAA champions led the way with the younger of the two, Breanna Stewart, who had 37 points in Friday night’s opener, scoring 22 in this one, connecting on 5-of-8 three-pointers along the way, while ageless Sue Bird, who set a playoffs record Friday with 16 assists, scoring 16 in this one, making 4-of-7 threes, while dealing 10 assists.

 

“I think we’re continuing to take what the defense gives us,” Stewart said of the Huskies alumna combo. 

 

But it didn’t stop there in another game of hot shooting by Seattle (40-for-70 57%) from the field as Alysha Clark and Natasha Howard each scored 21 points, and reserve Jordin Canada scored 10 points.

 

“To be honest, I think that our performance was better than it was in Game 1,” Stewart said of the entire team. “Just as far as having a balanced approach. Our mentality is to just to kind of keeping our foot on the gas, knowing that especially in a series like this, a team, if you give them any chance to come back, then they will. 

 

“We want to continue to kind of do what we need to do, just really have a complete game and really, like I said, leave  it all out there on the court. This is a time when we want to play our best basketball. I think we are doing that.”

 

Both Stewart and Bird missed last season with injuries, depriving Seattle of a chance to defend the 2018 title, thus enabling the Washington Mystics to gain their first in a five-game series pulling ahead of Connecticut in Game 5 at home in the nation’s capital.

 

Seattle coach Gary Kloppenburg, normally an assistant, but filling in for Dan Hughes, said Sunday the performances of Bird and Stewart in the first two games is a result of the motivation to regain the crown this summer.

 

“I just think they were so single-minded in their rehab and wanting to get back and I just really think they want it so badly and it’s displayed in their game, and just unbelievable ” Kloppenburg said.

 

“I mean Sue, 16 and 10, shot the ball really well, we knew she was going to get some shots and that was coming. Stewie, just 22 points and shot the ball from three, those guys are just such clutch pressure players, but I’m glad they’re on our side.”

Hughes was advised to stay away from the WNBA bubble when the teams assembled in Florida in early July for the delayed start several weeks later because of his cancer surgery at the front end of last season when Kloppenburg also stepped in to run the show.

Of course all this is precaution over the Covid-19.

 Last week, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert noted in her annual state of the league teleconference the 12 teams had zero positive results in ongoing testing though Seattle was forced to be postponed in a delay start of its semifinals due to three players producing inconclusive results off a test though subsequent results were negative and the Storm and Minnesota opened two days later.

 

Sunday’s game flow was a mirror of Game 1, while this time, by quarters, Seattle jumped to a 31-24 lead into the second period in which the Aces were one better 18-17 but trailed at the half, 48-42.

 

Seattle outscored Las Vegas each of the next two, 27-26, and another strong fourth, 29-23, but another strong Aces run cut an 18-point deficit to within three in the third before the Storm went on to lock the doors.

 

Second chance points to the advantage of 21-12 for the Aces was helpful for keeping them competitive.

 

“This is a very good team we are playing or they wouldn’t be here,” Kloppenburg said. “I thought we stayed focused, came back down and got really good shots and we were putting the ball down, driving, and kicking and I thought our execution offensively was really good tonight.

 

“Only 10 turnovers and we forced 16, so that’s good. 

“The other thing we really wanted to do was play defense, without fouling and that’s — you know with them just taking five free throws, that’s tremendous. They are usually — they are the lead in the league at getting to the line and I thought we really did a good job there.”

 

Rather than just Bird, this time the Storm set the assists team record in a finals game.

 

“All year long we have been a high assist team,” Kloppenburg said. “It’s just the way we play and move the ball. We felt like tonight we really put together a 40-minute game.”

 

On Las Vegas, South Carolina’s A’ja Wilson, the regular season MVP, had 20 points, while Angel McCoughtry and reserve Emma Cannon each scored 17 points, and Kayla McBride scored 14, while Danielle Robinson dealt 10 assists.

 

“Again, we’re our own worst enemy, sometimes,” said Las Vegas coach Bill Laimbeer, who won three WNBA titles with the former Detroit Shock, now the Dallas Wings via Tulsa in between. He also coached the New York Liberty.

 

“Our turnovers tonight really hurt us badly. They’re a very fine basketball team and you can’t make those blunders against them.

 

“But make no mistake, we had no favors from the referees today. They go to the free throw line more than us and they’re jump shot shooters? Please. That makes no sense.

 

“So that was a big part of this basketball game, also. It’s not the whole story, but just a part of it, and so was our turnovers. We missed (Dearica) Hamby tonight,” he said of the WNBA Sixth Player honoree who was injured in the last round. “But it is what it is. We are who we are and we have what we have.

 

“You have to win one game before you can win three, and that’s that’s our task, win the next game and then make it a series.”

All-League Honorees

 

Earlier in the day, the WNBA announced the last of the postseason awards voted by a national media panel — this one the two all-league team selections.

 

The first team consisted of Las Vegas’ Wilson and Seattle’s Stewart, as first team forwards, plus Los Angeles center Candace Parker, and guards Courtney Vandersloot on the Chicago Sky and Arike Ogunbowale on the Dallas Wings. 

 

The second team forwards were Connecticut’s DeWanna Bonner and Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier, with Washington’s Myisha Hines-Allen at center, with the guard spots filled by the Phoenix Mercury’s Dianna Taurasi and Skylar Diggins-Smith.

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

Guru’s WNBA Report: Bird and Stewart Set Playoff Marks As Seattle Puts Down Las Vegas in Finals Opener

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

The third time was the charm as well as the WNBA best-of-five championship opener Friday night for the Seattle Storm which shook off another third quarter playoffs surge by the Las Vegas Aces and regained control in the final period to grab a 93-80 victory at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., near Tampa/St. Petersburg.

 

A Las Vegas win over Seattle on the final day of the corona virus-shortened 22-game regular season just under two weeks ago enabled the Aces to match the Storm at the top of the standings at 18-4 and gain the No. 1 seed off their 2-0 sweep of the series.

 

University of Connecticut all-time alumna Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart did not play in that game dealing with injuries at the time for Seattle, which was still going to get the other double bye to the semifinals as the No. 2 seed.

 

The aging/relatively still young duo were back in force for this one, however, with Stewart collecting a new playoff career mark in this postseason for the second time with 37 points which highlighted a stat sheet-filled line adding 15 rebounds, 5-of-8 three-pointers, and four blocked shots.

 

That’s a WNBA playoffs first.

 

Bird set a playoffs and finals mark with 16 assists, one under the overall WNBA mark of 17 set by the Chicago Sky’s Courtney Vandersloot in the regular season. Bird also set a playoffs and finals mark for assists in a half with 10, while the previous playoffs assists record was 14 held by Bird and Vandersloot.

 

“Yeah, they’ve been through it,” Seattle coach Gary Kloppenburg said of the formers Huskies stars. “They’ve been through the wars. They’ve been through those championships. So that experienced is invaluable.”

 

For good measure former Notre Dame standout Jewell Loyd had 28 points and former Rutgers great Epiphany Prince coming off the bench had 11 points.

 

Seattle took the fourth-seeded Minnesota Lynx (14-8) down on a 3-0 sweep in a semifinals series that started two days late when three Storm players produced inconclusive Covid-19 tests but subsequent testing came up negative.

 

Las Vegas, on the other hand, had to grind back from a 2-1 series deficit and battle the seventh-seeded Connecticut Sun (10-12) to a three-point win in the decisive Game 5 on Tuesday.

 

If the Storm was believed to gather some rust with a slightly longer wait to begin the championship series, that was belied quickly Friday night as Seattle battled to a 23-21 lead at the end of the first quarter and then handled the Aces 34-19 in the second for a 57-40 lead at the half.

 

The Aces jumped to a 6-0 lead at the outset of the game before Loyd got Seattle on the board with a three-ball.

 

It got to 11-5 and just stayed there for a long-while, reminiscent of the fourth quarter of semis Game 5 when neither the Aces nor Connecticut could generate any offense.

 

Then Stewart scored and Seattle grounded out a 10-0 run for a 15-11 lead and worked its way staying ahead until the Storm then exploded in the next period when Stewart scored for a 35-34 regained lead and the Storm continued on a 14-0 run until Wilson scored to stop the streak for the moment with 2:01 left in the second.     

 

But Las Vegas came alive in the third 27-12 to trail by just a bucket 69-67 with 10 minutes left in regulation.

 

Seattle paced by Stewart regrouped offensively and defensively 24-13 in the fourth for the final result setting up a critical Game 2 Sunday at 3 p.m. on ABC in which the Storm with a win could be on the cusp of their second title in three seasons and a fourth overall tying the marks of the former Houston Comets, which won the first four, and Minnesota, which won four in this past decade.

 

“She got that look in her eyes like I’m just going to take over,” said Kloppenburg, the assistant who is filling in as head coach for Dan Hughes, who was advised to stay  out of the Florida bubble this summer because of cancer surgery early last season when Kloppenburg also filled in. 

 

“She hit some threes, got a couple from inside, got to the line, and she was just fabulous down the stretch,” he continued.

 

“I think we kind of lost our focus in that third quarter,” Kloppenburg said. “Got more into a half-court game. They picked their defense up, and I think we just didn’t respond in that third quarter and we let them all the way back in.

 

“I’m proud of the way we refocused, regrouped, got our defense solid in the fourth quarter, got a run going to stretch it out and win.

 

“A five-game series, you desperately want to get that first one, then we can go see what we’ve got to do to adjust to get a little bit better for the second one and really come out and try to get this next one.

 

“Especially against a team like Las Vegas. They’re a very good team.  They have a lot of good weapons. They shot the ball really well tonight from three. We can’t rest on these guys.” 

 

Of the fourth quarter and her overall game, Stewart said, “I don’t think I was like, oh, I’m going to score this many points straight. I was just taking what they gave me and being confident. I think I’m definitely excited for the moment and the big stage. 

 

“I think also the fact that I expect to be here and I’ve been here, whether it’s been college, WNBA, or USA. Continuing to embrace that big moment and take advantage of it. That is why we play basketball. These are the reasons why I play big games, help my team in big moments. That’s what I want.”

 

Noting her assists, Bird said, “I think Stewie and Jewell were pretty much on fire,” Bird said. “What do you think? 

 

“I’m just out there trying to find the open player. But like said, and I’ve always said this, assist is a two-person thing. And tonight those two were amazing.”    

 

 Las Vegas coach Bill Laimbeer has shook off adversity before guiding the former Detroit Shock to three crowns, the first of a which in a then best-of-three championship series saw his team get pounded by the Los Angeles Sparks in the opener out West in the Staples Center and then regroup to take the next two in a pair of thrilling games in Motown.

 

Should the Aces come back Sunday the series has an excellent chance to go the distance for the second straight season, following the Washington Mystics winning their first title a year ago in the nation’s capital downing Connecticut with a strong fourth quarter finish in Game 5.

 

“One game down,” Laimbeer said, “One or by 21, it really doesn’t matter, we lost the game. A lot of things didn’t go right for us today. “We struggled to score, struggled to make shots. 

 

“Give their defense some credit, they switched a lot. But at the same time a lot of those shots we have normally been making. We can’t get frustrated. We have to keep playing our solid defense. Clawed our way back into the game, but then ran out of gas.”

On Friday, Las Vegas got 20 points from prized free-agent acquisition Angel McCoughtry in the offseason, while WNBA regular season MVP A’ja Wilson scored 19, while the Notre Dame alumni duo of Kayla McBride had 13 and Jackie Young scored 10, and Carolyn Swords, who this season came out of retirement when Australian sensation Liz Cambage opted to stay in her home country because of the pandemic, grabbed 12 rebounds.

 

The keys were Seattle’s tremendous 36-for-72 shooting of 50% from the field while the Storm blocked shots better 9-2 and overwhelmed in the paint 48-18.

 

As for Bird’s performance, Kloppenburg said, “I mean, yeah, 16 assists and three turnovers is just unbelievable. She was just doing a really good job of finding shooters, getting into their defense, the different ways that we do that, and just tremendous floor game for Sue.

 

“I think she’s going to hit a couple of those threes once we keep moving on. She’s too good a shooter, she didn’t take a lot of shots tonight, really, but she found open players, and they knocked them down.”