In front of a rowdy crowd of 15,593 strong, the San Antonio Silver Stars won their WNBA opener with a 65-56 come-from-behind victory over the Seattle Storm on Saturday night. The Silver Stars were jittery to open the game, committing 11 turnovers in the first half and trailed at halftime 31-28.
"It wasn't a work of art, but it's a win and we'll take it," said Silver Stars head coach Candi Harvey.
After hitting only nine field goals in the first half, the Silver Stars came out aggressive in the next stanza. Scoring 13 points in the first five minutes of the second half behind the stellar play of point guard Jennifer Azzi and the hot shooting of Marie Ferdinand (20 points, 7 rebounds), the Silver Stars began to pull away. Azzi scored eight of her eleven points during the stretch.
"We didn't have our running game going at all in the first half," commented Azzi. "We were tentative and tight but we opened it up in the second half. When you focus on defensive intensity, it makes it easier to get going on offense."
The Silver Stars shot 46.7% from the field, but the Storm got off 19 more shot attempts. San Antonio was getting to the foul line with great regularity, but hit only 20-for-35 from the charity stripe.
"We weren't in a rhythm in the first half because of the jitters," said Ferdinand. "The first thing that coach told us when we got in the locker room at half was to relax."
Azzi did an incredible job defending Storm point guard Sue Bird who scored 11 points on 4-for 13 shooting and dished five assists.
7-foot-2 Margo Dydek tallied 15 points, eight rebounds and four blocks for the Silver Stars before fouling out in the closing minutes of the game.
Dydek started the first half strong, but sat for most of the second half in foul trouble.
Lauren Jackson scored 15 points on 5-for-19 shooting for Seattle before fouling out.
The Silver Stars, formerly the Utah Starzz, relocated to San Antonio during the offseason because of poor attendance and support in Salt Lake City.
"We wanted to do well in front of the new crowd in this hugely supportive town tonight," said Azzi.
